Halo Saga: The Fight Restarted
by F-14 Tomcat Lover
Summary: Adrift for seemingly a few years, the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn is in fact thousands of years into the future. When the ruined section is found... the Fight begins again. The Legacy of Earth now stands tall again to finish the job that wasn't.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

**Recollections**

"_Thy also lost upon the blade that smites ye." – Last words of Mendicant Bias.

* * *

_

It was over…

The nearly 30 years of War between the United Nations Space Command Defense Force and the Covenant was now at an end. Three decades where the human race was nearly brought to the brink of extinction by the combined might of several races bound by religion and faith. The UNSC Navy, and it's fellow military entities, the UNSC Army, and the UNSC Marine Corps lost countless numbers of it's soldiers, crew, equipment, ships, bases, outposts and more…colonies such as Harvest, Reach, Coral, Paris IV, Sigma Octanus IV, and countless other human colonial worlds were glassed by the massive fleets of the Covenant.

It was not always this way nearly half a century before though…

The United Nations Space Command, the exploratory, scientific, and military arm of the Colonial Administration Authority, and the United Earth Government, was founded by the United Nations when the over-population of Earth grew in the 22nd Century, and was under the jurisdiction of HIGHCOM. The UNSC saw action in the years of 2160 and 2164 when a series of brutal inter system wars filled the Sol System…including the Jovian Moons Campaign, the Rain Forest Wars, and the series of Battles in the Colonies of Mars, all during the time the United nations dealt with dissident political groups, namely the neo communist faction known as the Koslovics, who formed under the teachings of Vladimir Koslov, and their enemies, the neo fascist movement known as the Frieden.

The war began when both factions launched separate but lethal attacks on UN advisors in the Io colony, but the supposed isolated attacks spread to Mars, then to the Rain Forests of South America and then to the Jovian Moons, which was known to be the home base of the Frieden, leading to the Jovian Moons Campaign, the Rain Forest Wars and Battles of Mars,. These wars and events led to the reformation of the UN from a purely diplomatic organization into a permanent military power with various countries merging its forces into the UNSC military. The consequences of the wars led to the formation of a united government on Earth to lead the human race into the years to come at the beginning of the year 2170. The wars also served to point out the massive overpopulation problem along with the problematic food and resource distribution. The famines that were there in the past four year war along with the vast social problems revealed the need to change the political nature of governance on Earth and elsewhere, this system of governance also would later be used to govern the soon to be born colonies.

The events of the wars and the pressures they placed on the governments and populations also served to show the attraction and need to begin massive space colonization, a bill made by the United Earth Government in the year of 2310 to help ease the burdens on the already taxed Earth and it's own resources, however the colonization efforts didn't begin until the discovery of Slipspace and the invention of the Slipspace drive engine in the late 2200s by two scientists named Shaw and Fujikawa. The two had made the theory that the universe was in a seven non-visible infinitesimal quantum dimensions, making alternate physical laws exist and allowing for faster than light travel. The basic function of a Slipspace Drive was to use particle accelerators to rip small black holes into the normal space time to enter Slipspace, the magic of the program was how the engines manipulated the holes in order to squeeze through ships that were weighing thousands of tons into Slipspace, thus cutting the time needed for travel and shortening the distance between the stars , though travels between star system to star system was sometime inaccurate in terms of relative time that made it necessary for all UNSC ships to have cryo-tubes for it's crew for even short Slipspace jumps could take two months, while long jumps could take six months. With this discovery and the subsequent development of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine or the SFTE or known as the Slipspace drive…the human race could now colonize new worlds that were once out of reach as no ship in the past could leave the Sol System.

The colonization efforts had to wait for 52 years with the development of the first Slipspace drive equipped colony ship known as the _Odyssey_, and formation of what was known as the Inner Colonies was not completed until the 24th Century in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, and the residents of the Inner Colonies symbolized the elite of the Human race in many senses including the best in the physical and mental traits of human beings. The apex of the UNSC's colonization efforts was reached in the year 2492 when Humanity now ruled over 800 worlds, with the Outer Colonies forming the main resource node and these colonies provided the raw materials to fund and support the Inner Colonies that formed into the main economic and political block of the new emerging human empire.

During this period of colonization, the planet of Reach became the primary garrison world of the UNSC in the Epsilon Eridani sector, acting as the metaphorical doorstep to Earth's location. It was more than a garrison world as it was also the primary naval yard and training academy for the UNSC forces needed to police and protect the Outer Colonies, and to build the many colony ships and military warships as well…due to the massive and lucrative veins of titanium found on Reach, it naturally served as the training grounds for many of the covert and special forces units of the UNS, including the ODSTs.

This boom didn't come without a cost as the vast difference between the two parts of the human empire gave rise to ideological and political causes that began to spread, resulting in many brush fire wars happening on the Outer Colonies resulting in some of the worlds going into open rebellion against the UNSC. These brush fire wars continued and while they were silenced by the might of the UNSC Navy and the UNSC Marine Corps, there was the threat of hundreds more getting ready to be spread all over the Colonies, analysts in the UNSC determined that by the year of 2517, in twenty years all out rebellion would occur and it would be uncontrollable, overwhelming, and massive. They realized that while they could contain it, using overwhelming retaliation would be a negative action due to unnecessary civilian casualties in open warfare, plus the negative public opinions and more on the UNSC would further the cause of rebellion in the Outer Colonies. Thus, in order to create a special counter insurgency force to deal with these insurrections before they grew, avert civil war, costly conventional solutions were avoided, and reduce or eliminate unnecessary civilian deaths, the UNSC decided to Spartan II program, the successor to the Orion Program begun in 2491.

The Project ORION or the first of the Spartan-super soldier project, thus named the Spartan-I Program was to test genetic enhancements on selected volunteers from the armed forces of the UNSC. The program had failed due to the high mortality rate of those selected for the injections. Those who did survive the injections had a high amount of mental problems later in life. It is unknown on how many soldiers had been part of the Orion Program, but it was known that several of the soldiers had children who would also possess the results of the genetic enhancements and they were selected to be part of the next program. The program however garnered enough positive support, consent, and funding to have a second phase program to begin, aptly named the Spartan-II Program.

The Spartan II Program began in the year 2492 under the leadership of Dr. Catherine Halsey of the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence known also as ONI and by Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and AI Déjà of the UNSC military. The program began by finding children who possessed superior physical and mental attributes…at the year of 2517, at least 150 suitable candidates for the Spartan II program were found, but due to budget constraints, only half of the children were conscripted into the program…many of them were at the age of 5 to 7, they were kidnapped from their homes and replaced with Flash Clones to maintain the secrecy of the program.

They were taken to Reach and began their long years of training under the eyes of CPO Mendez, learning the use of weapons and vehicles in the UNSC arsenals, military tactics, strategy, team work, combat doctrine, hand to hand combat and more. To marginalize their civilian lives, their family names were discarded and replaced with serial numbers. In the seven years that passed the children were subjected to the newly upgraded medical enhancements that had it's roots in the first Spartan program. These augmentations would make them the truly unique Spartan super soldiers they were needed to be.

The augmentations were divided into five types.

Carbide ceramic ossification – advanced material made from a combination of special metals and ceramics made into layers that are grafted on the skeleton to make the bones virtually unbreakable. The coverage of the material had to not exceed to 3 percent of bone mass as the risk of white blood necrosis was high.

Muscular enhancement injections – protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and reduce lactase recovery time.

Catalytic thyroid implant – platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost both skeletal and muscular tissue growth. This is known to suppress the sexual drive.

Occipital capillary reversal – submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of the subject's retina, this would result in a dramatic increase in the subject's perception.

Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites – alteration of bio-electrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. The results included a three hundred percent increase in the subject's reflexes, and anecdotal evidence of high increase in intelligence, memory and creativity.

The procedures did not come without significant risks for the young soldiers in training, as there was a high fatality rate for the children. The first augmentation procedure had the risk of massive growth spurts in the children that could lead to irreparable massive bone pulverization. The second augmentation had the subjects suffer a 5 percent increase of a fatal cardiac volume increase. The third augmentation had a rare yet high risk of elephantiasis. The fourth augmentation had risks of retinal rejection and detachment, along with permanent blindness. And the fifth augmentation had a high risk of Fletcher's Syndrome and Parkinson's disease.

Out of the 75 Spartans who took the augmentations only 33 survived without complications and the risks mentioned and recovered well, 10 survived but had suffered the complications and risks and were no longer fit to be in combat and were relegated to tactical and administrative duties due to their still increased mental capabilities, the rest perished. After the funeral made for the Spartans who did not survive the augmentations, the surviving 33 continued to train after recovery and adapt to the augmentations.

The results of the augmentations on the Spartans were amazing as they combined together to create unexplained and unexpected synergistic effects.

Spartans could run up to 55 KPH (34.155 MPH), one Spartan named Kelly-084 could run at a much higher speed of 62 KPH (38.502 MPH), these abilities were totally independent of any support.

They could lift three times their normal body weight due to increased muscular density and strength.

Virtual unaided night vision.

Reaction time of 20 milliseconds, but this time is in normal conditions, in combat, the numbers are far higher.

Capable of unprecedented teamwork and unit cohesion bordering on telepathy.

Unlike the first Spartans, the Spartan IIs had no physical or psychological problems.

All these results were seen in only a few months after their full recovery of the augmentation procedures. And their teacher CPO Mendez stated that they all would grow even better once they were fully accustomed to their augmentations, the only true one would be that the Spartans can exceed the speed of 55 KPH (34.155 MPH). All these abilities were totally independent of the coming Mjolnir Armor Series, and it's introduction to the Spartans' arsenal of tricks and equipment only boosted these unprecedented abilities.

One of the Spartans proved to be a cut above the rest, his name and serial number was John, John-117 born on the planet Eridanus 2 in the city of Elysium, with brown hair, freckles, and a gap between his two front teeth, and like all the Spartans, he was stronger, faster, smarter and tougher than the normal human being, a good indication was at the age of six, he was already larger and a foot taller than other children his age, he had been selected by both Dr. Catherine Halsey and a young Lieutenant Jacob Keyes after he had been seen to have phenomenal reflexes and accurately predicted the side of a coin that the doctor had flipped would land on, he however was not always a team player. Like all the Spartans, he had been assigned to work with a team, and his group comprised of two other Spartans, Kelly-084, and Sam-034. The training course that the three of them first traversed was a network of ropes, beams, and bridges to reach the top to ring a bell, the team that reached the top to ring the bell would be given a lavish meal, while the last team to ring would not eat dinner at all. John was not agreeable with the concept of team-work and left his two team-mates behind and rang the bell himself, Kelly and Sam came at later times to follow John.

However, CPO Franklin Mendez was not impressed and told the team that they had lost the competition, and explained the reason in simple words.

"You're team loses, you lose. You don't win until you're team wins."

The night after, the rest of the Spartans ate lavishly while John, Kelly, and Sam ate nothing, but it became a lesson that the three young Spartans took to heart, John most of all and the next day….they as a team were the first to ring the bell. And it was the start of a long friendship between the three Spartans.

John's leadership talents came to the fore when in the Military Wilderness Training Preserve located in the Highland Mountains on Reach, he and his fellow Spartans were dropped off, their object was to reach the extraction point on the map and make it back to the base before night time. However, they only had a piece of the map with each of them and time was against them all. John-117 picked a rally point for the Spartans and in time they were able to rally and move as a cohesive unit under his leadership and spot the Pelican Drop-ship that was their ticket off the area…however it was guarded by Marines sent to act as the last obstacle to the ship. Using non lethal tactics, the Spartans were able to over-power the Marines and get to the Drop-ship, John stayed behind as long as he could to make sure than all the Spartans were in the Drop-ship. He then accepted responsibility for being the last of the Spartans to be on the ship and be punished for his actions. However, CPO Mendez had observed his actions and not only allowed him to continue his training, but make him the full squad leader of all the Spartans.

John was very much devastated by the deaths of his fellow Spartans, namely those who died when subjected to the augmentations and wondered at their funerals on if he truly spent their lives well and properly or did he waste them for nothing, it was those teachings from his trainer that stuck with him…as he and the other Spartans considered Franklin Mendez as a leader and authority figure in their lives…and most of all… a father figure. And he and his comrades considered Dr. Catherine Halsey as close to a mother figure as she always looked out for their well being and even let them play simple games when they were not training, and despite their annoyance, she could tell them apart in the same way they could when wearing their armor.

The very first actual combat mission undertaken by the newly promoted Master Chief Petty Officer, John-117 was to deal with the Eridanus rebels in the Eridanus System, his home system, he and his fellow Spartans' object was to capture the traitor Colonel Robert Watts, leader of the rebels and after sneaking into the base, they succeeded in capturing the traitor with minimal losses on the side of the citizenry, and no losses on their strike team. John himself was slightly wounded and gained a Purple Heart for the mission.

However, all that changed as he and his fellow Spartans were debriefed in Reach by Admiral Michael Stanford and the AI Beowulf as they were now told to shift their priorities…they were no longer a covert counter insurgency force dedicated to quelling insurrection and rebellion in the Outer Colonies…but to combat a new menace…one the UNSC…and Humanity was not prepared or equipped to face…

The alien combine known as the Covenant…

* * *

In the year of 2525, on October 7, a day that would live forever in UNSC history as the dawn of a brutal cycle of war, a UNSC battle-group arrived at the Human Colony World of Harvest in the Outer Colonies…the officers, crew, and soldiers of the battle group were stunned and horrified to find that the once lush world had been brutally destroyed… it's very surface burned and charred into glass, all forms of life, animal, plant, and human were no longer on scanners, it's biosphere wiped out, rendering the planet to lifelessness and unable to sustain life, and the cities in the colony were also reduced into nothing but rubble. They then detected a single ship of unknown but undeniably alien design hovering over the decimated world.

Before any form of communication was to be done to identify the unknown intruder, the single ship attacked the UNSC battle group, destroying all ships save for one badly damaged UNSC ship…intercepted communications from the now designated enemy ship identified it's affiliation with the Covenant, a caste driven, theological organization comprising of several alien races. And in it was a message in perfect English that would become the phrase that would truly show the danger the UNSC and Humanity faced.

"You're destruction is the will of the Gods…and we are their instrument."

With that…the UNSC-Covenant War began...

A war that would last for 27 years…

* * *

Out of all the 800 worlds colonized by the UNSC, over 260 of those worlds were invaded by the Covenant and those worlds were utterly obliterated, reduced into lifeless balls of glass by the orbital bombardments of the Covenant battle fleets, leaving only 540 worlds still in the rapidly declining grip of Humanity. The Covenant also proved successful in invading and devastating several Inner Colonies' worlds as well as smaller parts of the frontier, and even John-117's own home world of Eridanus II was destroyed…utterly reduced to glass, the other worlds that fell included Jericho VII, and all the Outer Colonies were completely obliterated. And the assaults on the Inner Colonies began.

It was Humanity's darkest days, outnumbered and out gunned, by the vast horde before them, and unable to match the higher levels of technology of the aliens before them, their fleets were decimated by the armadas of the Covenant Fleets, forcing UNSC Fleets to go closer to the Inner Colonies to protect them and to defend Earth. Only when the battles took place on the planetary surface that the UNSC had the upper hand, relying on their time honed tactics, strategy, luck, and fire power to even up the odds, and though they had gained several key victories…they suffered horrendous losses and were still losing ground.

The Marines and their special forces group, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were doing all that they could to stem the tide and halt the Covenant…they were the best of the best…but they were still human and their casualties were high…and no matter how many of the Covenant races they have killed in combat there were still more ready to fight.

However, the UNSC morale was kept high by the introduction of the Spartans, who now wore the signature Mjolnir Mark IV Armor that became their symbol. Deemed as the luckiest of the Spartans, John-117 was the very first to test the first manufactured suit of the Mjolnir Armor Mark IV and wore it in the 27 years of fighting the Covenant.

John-117 was also considered by Dr. Catherine to be the best candidate to for the protection of the 'smart' AI Cortana, she had reasoned that while the Spartan leader was not the best in terms of strength, speed, or smarts as the others were better in those fields than him, he had equal measure in them all, being the most balanced of the Spartans, and also the bravest of them all, and was naturally the luckiest as well…due to surviving amazing odds that would have killed even the most reason UNSC soldier.

The introduction of the Mjolnir Armor Series started under the banner of ONI and Dr, Catherine Halsey, and had undergone changes and redesigns over the long years of it's development…named after the legendary war hammer of the Norse God of Thunder, Wind and Rain Thor, The Mjolnir was both a defensive system and a weapon of war and it proved to be the hallmark symbol that was associated with the Spartans.

The first Mjolnir Mark I unit was the first of the UNSC Navy' attempts to created powered exoskeletons for combat use. The mark I battle suit was a bulky exoskeleton that improved the strength and stamina of the user. A user of the suit could lift at least 2 tons (4, 409 pounds) and could run at 32 KPH (19.88 MPH). The armor proved to be impervious to standard UNSC light weapons fire, and it's main weapon was a 30-millimeter mini-gun that could change it's munitions loads which were stun rounds for training and light rounds for combat missions. They could be fitted with sensors and infrared scopes, and it used a powerful hydraulic system with hydraulic fluid to move the suit. The suit consumed massive amounts of energy and had to rely on a fusion reactor in order to provide the needed power for it's operation through a large cable…however this hindered movement and limited it's operational range. The lose of the either the cable, the reactor or both left the suit powerless and thus it was never seen in combat. However, it did see you in docking facilities and as mining units in Reach's titanium mines. The team under Dr. Halsey then scrapped the first design and rebuilt it from the top up. The Spartans themselves could out perform this version quite easily.

The second Mjolnir version had a more slimmed down profile but was still unsuitable for front line combat and therefore was not seen in battle service in the UNSC armed forces, regardless of that, it was still the toughest form of combat suit armor that the UNSC had in service.

The third Mjolnir version now had a more human form profile and did away with the cable and now relied on power from a power transmission-receiver so that power can be sent to the Mark III in the same fashion as power from planet borne generators was sent to the Orbital defense Platforms on UNSC held worlds. Despite the changes, the design was still dropped for two key reasons, the first was that despite the new changes to power supply, the suit still had a limited operational range as moving such a generator would be too expensive and unwieldy to move to different theatres of war, and the second was that if the generator was somehow destroyed, the users of the Mark II would be trapped in powered down worthless metal shells.

It was with the advancements of technology and design that the Mjolnir Series took a turn for the better…with the arrival of the Mark IV. The first attempts of making powered armor suits for front line service were failures, but under the increased funding to Dr Halsey, the Armor series changed as it took advantage of the many technological leaps in the years that passed after the Mark I to Mark III were developed by the UNSC. The Mark IV was the first armor suit to fully conform to the human form and plugged directly to the soldier's nervous system through a basic Neural Interface implant, allowing the soldier's thoughts to control the suit's functions, namely the communications, environmental systems, hydrostatic gel levels, and more systems, and movements.

The Mark IV was also the first to utilize the newly created Reactive Metal Liquid Crystal that allowed locomotion. The Reactive Metal Liquid Crystal flawlessly boosted the power and speed of the wearer of the Mark IV Mjolnir Armor Suit, which was a big contrast to the Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III that relied on hydraulic motors to allow soldiers mobility, due to this development, the Mark IV took a far more human form and was more of a suit of human sized armor than a powered exoskeleton, in short terms, the soldier moved the suit, and the suit moved the soldier, allowing a very compact design than the original models.

However, the success of this version of the Mjolnir Armor was due to the parallel development of the Spartan II program which Dr. Halsey also handled. This was due to the fact that previous non-augmented UNSC Marines and personnel who attempted to use the suits were either killed or severely injured by the extreme reactivity of the suit. When the Spartans tried the suits on however, things turned around as the Spartans, due to their augmentations had the needed physical and mental prowess to handle the Mark IV's abilities…further adding weight to the name of Mjolnir, for in legend, the war hammer could not be wielded by anyone except the one with the strongest mind and body.

The Mark IV had an integrated advanced computer system which could constantly monitor weapons, biological function, and motions from outside forces through a special motion sensor radar system built into the helmet in the HUDS (Heads Up Display).

The suit itself was designed for multiple combat environments on any planet and even in the deep vacuum of space itself as it was air-tight and hardened in vacuum. It was armed with built in air-filtration systems that allowed the Spartans who wore them a full 90 minutes worth supply of clean oxygen. The helmet also came equipped with a standard UNSC flashlight with a recharging fusion pack that was independent of the fusion pack that powered the Mark IV. It also had concealed compartments in the thigh plates to store grenades and ammunition.

The refractive luminous green titanium alloy plating that made up the outer shell of protection of the Mark IV was designed to fight the Covenant and their advanced plasma based weapons and more, allowing a Spartan soldier to withstand up to three times the plasma damage a UNSC Marine could manage with the use of standard Marine Combat Armor…the alloy plates also provided basic protection from Human based projectile weapons…though only to a degree higher than the marine Combat Armor.

The other features of the Mark IV included built in recoil compensating actuators, hydrostatic gel which was used to control and regulate temperature and dampen impact force, and biofoam injectors and medical care systems. The biofoam injectors and medical care systems of the Mark IV however had to rely on an outside source of the healing substance and the needed antibiotics, medicines, and stimulants to heal the user, namely from the standard UNSC Marine Medical kit as the Mark IV was not equipped to manufacture or store it's own supply.

One of the greatest flaws was that while powerful and nearly indestructible, the Mark IV didn't possess the shielding technology the Covenant had, and this left them vulnerable to overwhelming attacks from plasma weapons.

John-117 and his fellow Spartans fought with all that they had learned both on Reach and on the battle-fields and for the past 27 years, they all gave all that they had to keep the Covenant from winning over the UNSC utterly. He and his Spartans became the stuff of legend among both the UNSC military and the citizens of the UNSC held worlds. The stories of the Spartans winning victories over impossible odds against the mighty armies of the Covenant inspired the UNSC troopers to fight on and to resist the Covenant forces…and kept the morale of the UNSC troops and citizens high in the years that passed.

This was a boon and a curse to the UNSC, a boon in the sense that it kept hope alive among the citizens and Marines who fought and resisted the Covenant…and a curse to the UNSC' ONI branch as they had hoped to keep the Spartan IIs out of the public eye, but had to consent to allowing the Spartans to go public to boost the morale of the people. As such, the ONI did their best to regale the public and armed forces of the supposed invincibility of the Spartans to help inspire them to fight no matter what.

John-117 and his Spartans won countless awards for their actions in various battles over the course of the 27 years war with the Covenant, with John-117 now nicked named Master Chief or Chief by the UNSC personnel, Marines, and Cortana who worked with him the most winning every military award in the UNSC, except the Prisoner of War medallion and fighting in over 207 combat engagements and had killed more than 1000 Covenant troops of the various races, and thousands more with his fellow Spartans. However, John-117 knew that despite the stories that were circulated around his fellow Spartans and himself…he knew that he and his fellow Spartans who he treated as brothers and sisters were far from invulnerable.

During one operation to destroy a Covenant battle-ship over the planet Chi Ceti IV in the UNSC ship _Commonwealth _to enter the Damascus Testing Facility to retrieve the Mark IV Armor after moving to the Roosevelt Military base under the guise of a cover mission. However, before they could move out with the new suits to fight the Covenant…a Covenant frigate came from Slipspace and attacked the _UNSC Commonwealth_ with all the Spartans onboard it…heavily damaging the ship and would have killed all their fellow Spartans and the crew had the three of them, himself, Kelly-084, and Sam-034 not taken off and took a Pelican to the hole in the ship caused by a MAC round and landed there. They were able to reach the ship's engine cores, but Sam saved his life by moving him out of the way from an overcharged plasma globule from a Jackal's Plasma Pistol. The bolt hit Sam and pierced through an area of his Mark IV suit that was not fully protected. He, Kelly, and Sam managed to leave behind several 'hot' ANVIL-II ASM missiles on the fusion generator of the ship, and their only means of escape was to leap into space…having lost the Pelican to the Covenant…however, while Kelly and himself could escape…Sam could not…as his suit was breached and if he attempted to leap into space, he would be killed by rapid decompression. John-117…faced with the choices, the first, staying behind and dying with his friends, but depriving the UNSC of their support, and the second to leap into space with the rest of his friends and watch Sam be killed by decompression and to say that it was not easy was an understatement. Forced with a painful choice…he decided to order Sam to remain behind to make sure that the warheads exploded. He had let a good friend due…Sam was only 14 at the time…and it would not be the last. Sam was the first Spartan to be truly Killed In Action.

He and his Spartans fought and gave their lives…their numbers dwindling, even when the next classes joined the fray; however, the Spartan MIA Protocol stopped them from telling the truth of the deaths of their fellow Spartans…as doing so would have severely depleted the morale of the UNSC. The wars progressed and despite the few yet significant tactical victories the UNSC had over the Covenant, the tide of war was still against them…until he and his fellow Spartans were recalled to Reach and were equipped with the new version of the Mjolnir Series…the Mark V.

The newly manufactured Mark V had hundreds of minor technical advancements but had two major defining ones that stood out against the Mark IV.

The first was a much larger fusion power pack, while this was making the Mark V a bit more bulky, it was for a good reason. The UNSC scientists, while unable to reverse engineer the highly advanced recharging shield system used on the armor of the Covenant's best warriors and leaders known the Elites, were able to reverse engineer the shield systems of the Jackals, the avian scouts of the Covenant who wielded shields on their forearm. This newly reversed shield technology proved to be a serious boon to the Spartans as it now allowed them a version of protection enjoyed by the Covenant Elites. The newly constructed shields provided protection from both solid and plasma based projectiles, but the process of stretching the Jackal shields to cover the whole human body had weakened it…leaving it weakened to UNSC based projectile weapons. Nevertheless it was a vast improvement.

The second was the installment was a special weave of memory processor super conducting material, the very material that made the core an AI system. This gave the Mark V the capacity of a ship borne AI, this along with the upgraded standard issue UNSC neural implant allowed an AI to inhabit the suit and the mind of the Spartan wearing it. This gave the Spartan wearing the Mark V the massive benefits of the AI's incredible information processing capabilities. Therefore the Ai would be able to assist the Spartan in real time by monitoring communications, computer information relays, and friendly combat updates…along with informing the Spartan of threats that might even evade the senses of the Spartan.

Unlike the Mark IV, the Mark V had special magnetic pads that can not only hold weapons in selected areas on the suit such as the back, thighs, and belt…but could carry far deadlier ordinance for operations, such LOTUS Anti-Tank Mines and HAVOCK Tactical Nukes, just in case the Spartans would be ordered to take out vehicles, ships, or bases.

With these new suits, he and his Spartans were told of their new and very risky mission, their task was to hijack a Covenant battle-ship and if possible, kidnap a Prophet, the race that apparently were the overall religious and political leaders of the Covenant, this was to either halt the war or bargain for a truce…with Cortana being assigned to serve as tech specialist and hacker for the operation. They were to be on a refitted and rejuvenated _Halcyon_-Class cruiser known as the _UNSC Pillar of Autumn_ under the command of Captain Jacob Keyes, the very same Jacob Keyes who had been instrumental in the victory at Sigma Octavius IV and who, in the past as a recent graduated officer, helped Dr. Catherine Halsey with the Spartan II Program… and they had very little time to do so…

However, things didn't go well at all as barely two days had passed during their preparations when a massive Covenant battle-fleet appeared over Reach and laid siege to the planet. He and his Spartans did whatever they could possibly manage in order to keep Reach from being destroyed alongside the UNSC Marines, the ODSTs, and the Navy… while the officers and the sector commander of Reach began to initiate the Cole Protocol.

The Cole Protocol was established after the battle between one of the Covenant's battle-fleets with a massive fleet led by Admiral Preston Cole…the battle was horrific and casualties were high…and while the UNSC fleet had won a significant victory, the casualties their forces had suffered made it very bitter.

Thus was the establishment of the Cole Protocol, which ordered all Commanders, AI, and high ranking officers to purge and destroy all databases pertaining to UNSC force deployments, weapons research, rally points, garrison-worlds…and most important of all… the location of Earth. The second article in the Cole Protocol forbade any retreating UNSC ship to Slipspace towards the Inner Colonies and Earth, instead, they were ordered to make 'blind' Slipspace jumps in order to lead the Covenant away from Earth. The last article was the need to ensure that the destruction or capture of a ship borne AI by the Covenant was prevented at ALL costs. Any officer, regardless of rank or position who clashed with the Cole Protocol was to be charged with high treason and either imprisoned or executed.

The battle proved long and decisive as he and his Spartans worked two teams to ensure the survival of the people on Reach and to ensure that no trace of data could be found by the Covenant to locate Earth and wipe out the Human race. However, they all were losing ground fast as the battles progressed, however in space the UNSC Fleet were able to keep things in a stalemate, with the Orbital Defense Platforms and the Super MACs evening up the odds in the fight, but with loses on the UNSC side along with the Covenant.

When the Covenant Fleet pulled back, the UNSC thought that they had won, but the others in the of command thought otherwise…the leaders of the Covenant forces and fleets, the Elites were very honor bound and were not the kind to retreat from a fight, and their suspicions proved true as hundreds of Covenant boarding craft were detected and the Covenant Fleet came back in full force. Many more of his fellow Spartans were killed or he had lost contact with them as they tried as best they could…until he and his friend Linda-058 who had been wounded but could be revived, along with Sergeant Avery J. Johnson, Private O'Brien, and Private Bisenti, and took off in the _Pillar of Autumn_, just as Reach was glassed by the Covenant and the order for all surviving forces in Reach to retreat. As before, he and the crew of the _Pillar of Autumn_, knowing they were most definitely now abandoning Spartan-B312 of Noble Team, made a blind jump but were pursued by several ships including the ship known as the _Ascendant Justice_, which was the flagship of the Supreme Commander who led the attack on Reach.

It was at this very moment, that he and his fellow UNSC soldiers and officers found themselves in front of an unknown world and before them was a massive artificial ring that was of a design that none of them had ever seen before…but the Covenant forces that followed them and engaged them. He was awakened from cryo-sleep and then met up with Keyes to make the arrangements to land the Pillar of Autumn on the ring and get Cortana off the ship to prevent her capture or destruction…and like Dr. Halsey had requested, he was the one charged with this duty and did so as he and the Marines fought valiantly to repel the Covenant boarders that attacked them after the Covenant had destroyed the Fire Control System for the MAC cannon of the _Pillar of Autumn_. However, he and Cortana, like the rest of the crew were forced to abandon the ship and head for the surface under the order of Captain Keyes.

Once they were on the ring world, he and Cortana struggled out of the downed _Bumblebee_-class escape pod, salvaged what they could from the wreckage and the dead bodies of the marines who did not survive. He and Cortana then found pockets of other Marines and formed a resistance with the other survivors of the Pillar of Autumn, and when Cortana heard that Keyes and the other surviving command crew and their Marine escorts were captured by the Covenant, he and the ODSTs and Marines staged a rescue on the cruiser that held their comrades…the _Truth and Reconciliation_.

He led the ODSTs and Marine strike force that fought their way through the valley to the _Truth and Reconciliation_'s anti-gravity lift with the use of a sniper rifle and assault rifle, gathering whatever supplies he could use along the way and taking the Covenant weapons that he might need and eliminating the forces that stood in his way, along with the supporting reinforcements of Marines and ODSTs that came in when they were needed. They managed to fight their way to the lift and ambush the Covenant and managed to slay even the Hunter pair that were sent down to stop them. Though casualties were considerable for the raiding force and the battles with the Elite Stealth forces and the Zealots, John-117 was able to free Captain Keyes and his escorts, there he told the Chief and Cortana what the ring world they were on was, it was known to the Covenant as Halo…and why the Covenant were far more concerned with it than them. They also realized that there was a chance that Halo was a weapon that could control the fate of the Universe; Captain Keyes then ordered him and Cortana to go to Control Room of Halo and prevent the Covenant from attempting to activate Halo and use it to destroy the human race. After fighting their way back to the bridge, where he had left behind his fellow Marines to guard the entrance, he found them all dead after eliminating the Stealth Elites that made the attack on the Marines…realizing from communications from the Pelican pilot 'Foe Hammer,' that pick-up was impossible, they fought their way to the shuttle bay and commandeered a Spirit Drop-ship, they were nearly stopped by two Hunters, but the Captain rammed the arms of the Spirit, crushing the Hunters.

He and Cortana then led a strike force of Marines to secure the Silent Cartographer, the map room that led to the Control Room for Halo. They had to secure a beach head and fought with a strong Covenant garrison and landed right into a serious fire fight, they managed to take the beach though casualties were considerable, thankfully reinforcements were present and they were able to fight their way to the Silent Cartographer, however, the Elites and their allies had further hardened the location and also sealed the doors which were very strong, forcing him and Cortana to find the Security Control Room to disable the lock-down.

He and Cortana had to deal with the Covenant security force outside of the building and the Hunter pair that guarded the outer courtyard/entrance…and fought past the remaining garrison and fought with the next Hunter pair and the remaining Covenant Grunts, and Elites that guarded the Security Control Center, and the two of them deactivated the Security system and after dealing with several Stealth Elites, the Grunts, Jackals, and Elites inside the Map Room and the next groups of Hunters there. They were able to get to the Map Room and locate the Control Center for Halo and head off to intercept the Covenant under orders from Captain Keyes who had his own mission as well.

The two of them accomplished the very first aerial insertion…from under-ground and fight their way to the Control center, rescuing as many UNSC Marine Fire Teams as they could, with the support of the Marines they were able to fight their way through most of the Covenant garrisons that dotted the area that lay between them and the Control Room, which was located in some sort of temple/shrine. They were able to defeat the massive Covenant garrison in the area and allowed the rescued Fire Teams the chance to return to Alpha Base to recover, rest, and heal…while they went on ahead…further defeating small to large pockets of Covenant resistance until they arrived at the temple and over powered the garrison there and accessed the Control Room, it was there that Cortana changed somewhat and accessed the data, identifying the structure as Forerunner artifact dubbed a Fortress world and it was to study…something, something that horrified Cortana and the Covenant and she quickly ordered him to stop Captain Keyes from getting to the supposed Covenant Weapons cache that Cortana told him in a panic was not what they thought it was, but something far more horrible.

As soon as he arrived to the sight, he found a downed UNSC Pelican and a garbled transmission that cycled over and over saying that something had attacked them and had not been the Covenant, and Captain Keyes had been taken by the unknown hostiles. As he made his way through the swamp like lands, he encountered pockets of Covenant forces who were apparently frightened by something…and when he arrived into the site and fought his way past the light resistance left over, he went down into the underground facility, he witnessed bloody sights as blood from the Covenant forces decorated the insides…though why there were no bodies made him even more wary, he then found a UNSC Marine who seemed to have a suffered massive mental break-down as the Marine screamed out in fear and fired at him with a pistol, he left the Marine alone and heard disturbing descriptions from the insane Marine about monsters attacking them, taking the live ones and how he avoided being taken by pretending to be dead, he heard the names of private Mendoza, Bisenti, Sergeant Johnson being uttered in agony, and how the Marine had seen them all dead and turned into monsters. He realized that there was no way he could help the soldier and as much as he hated to leave a man behind, he moved on and entered the area to find a UNSC Spoofer, and was about to access it when he heard strange sounds behind him…almost like a creeping sound, he looked about with his weapon ready and finding none, opened the door and caught a dead Marine…Mendoza in his arms, wasting little time, he made his way into the room and spotted the combat helmet of a UNSC Marine…their weapons were there as well, but their bodies were not there at all. He placed down Mendoza's own body and got the helmet that was worn by Private Wallace Jenkins, he couldn't help but feel even more saddened and managed to retrieve the Helmet Recorder's Recorder Chip and began accessing the data to find out what happened.

What he saw the indeed foreboding as he watched Sergeant Johnson, Mendoza, Bisenti, Dubbs, and Jenkins land and move out to the supposed Weapons cache. The rest of the squad held the entrance while the Sergeant and his team went in. There they found a brutally mangled and buttered Covenant force, blood all over the place. He listened to their conversations about the attack as Captain Keyes entered the scene. He then watched as the Marines, along with Captain Keyes enter this room and while they scanned around, something happened as the squad left behind in the top of the structure called in and reported that they were under attack and the attackers were not Covenant and the communication was cut with a bloody scream, Johnson was about to order Mendoza to head up their and find out what happened, but then they were all hearing sounds that forced them to get ready for a fight…and then the attack happened. He saw strange jelly fish like creatures burst through the doors en masse and attack the squads and he watched in shock as the Marines and Keyes were overwhelmed and killed…that was when the recording ended…he realized what happened and quickly fought off the incoming waves of the creatures that attacked him.

He then saw forms of creatures that resembled Elites, but were horribly mutated and distorted, along with Human forms that were also mutated and distorted horribly, he shot them down with his weapons, but had watched as the mutated beings got up and attacked once more…forcing him to use whatever methods, no matter how brutal to utterly destroy them. He watched as the creatures ripped through the Covenant forces and then tried his best to save several Marines but they too were killed by the creatures…who he saw could wield both UNSC weapons and Covenant weaponry. As he managed to find another way out of the facility he was able to contact survivors from the squads and with the call from Foe Hammer, they moved out to try and escape for pick-up at a large structure…they moved as fast as they could, but they were surrounded by the mutated forms of their former Human comrades, the Covenant Elites and the jelly fish like creatures, many of the Marines were killed and a few survivors were left and then from the structure came strange floating machines and before he could figure out just who these units were, he was teleported to the top and met a floating construct known as 343 Guilty Spark, who told him about the creatures known as the Flood and that the only way to stop the Flood from spreading was to activate Halo's systems, however, they would have to retrieve the Index, the key to activating Halo.

In the Library he would have to climb ten levels filled with the Flood's forces and Combat Forms, along with massive bloated forms known to him by the Construct as Carrier Forms, remains from what appeared to be Grunts and Jackals that exploded violently and released more of the Flood, namely the jelly fish like Infection Forms. He was told the function and the intelligence of the Flood despite their parasitic nature as they were already attempting to repair the Pillar of Autumn. He fought his through them holding his position as the Forerunner machine opened the doors and guided his movements while being supported by the Sentinels, the same type of units that helped him before. As they reached the Index, they were able to avoid the Flood and teleport back to the Control Center.

It was there that he was told by Cortana the true purpose of Halo…yes, it was a weapon to stop the Flood…but not by killing them alone…but to starve them to death, and that was accomplished by wiping out ALL sentient life in the Universe. She took the Index and it was there that 343 confirmed Cortana's words and told him to give her to him so the Rings could be fired. Realizing his mistake, he refused and after defeating the Sentinels had to destroy Halo from being fired. They however had to deal with the Covenant and the Flood as both factions fought each other all over the Ring, as their commanders had ordered them to exterminate the Flood.

Cortana then told him that the only chance they had was to detonate the fusion reactors in the _Pillar of Autumn _and it would destroy the ring completely, yet they had to locate Captain Keyes to deactivate the safety locks that prevented them from doing so. Every UNSC ship's computer had fail-safes that not even smart AI like Cortana could override without the codes from a high ranking officer such as Captain Keyes, who could either say the codes, input them into a console, or use his neural implants.

But before they did so, they had to prevent 343 and his Sentinels from firing the Ring just in case they could manage without the Index…they retraced their steps and used any weapon and vehicle they could find to win the battle, but he had to commandeer the Banshees in order to reach his target destinations and he came close to getting killed and damaging his shields as Cortana rigged his shields to fire EMP pulses to disable the plasma pulse generators that powered Halo's transmission systems. After they succeeded, she was able to use the teleportation grid on Halo to reach Keyes in time.

They arrived as the Flood and the Covenant were fighting their absolute best to get into a Covenant cruiser, the Flood intended to repair the ship and move away from Halo, while the Covenant were there to eliminate the Flood and repair the ship for departure…and Keyes was on that ship. Cortana managed to teleport them to the cruiser and they tried to find a way to the bridge where Keyes' was located, they knew what they had to do, despite orders given to them by Keyes to leave him, as he was being turned by the Flood. They had to abandon the cruiser when they were suddenly attacked by a massive wave of the Flood. They then had to fight their way to the Covenant ship's gravity lift and when they were in the ship had to fight through hordes of the Flood and the Covenant to reach the bridge…he and Cortana hoped to find Keyes alive…but they were too late as Keyes had been turned into a Brain Form by the Flood, and they were forced to kill him and retrieve the neural implants to get the codes…then they had to fight through the Flood once more and the Covenant Spec Ops forces that arrived to commandeer a Banshee and make it to the _Pillar of Autumn_.

Once they arrived, they had to face more of the Flood and the Spec Ops Covenant that tried to reclaim the ship and prevent the Flood from using it to escape. He and Cortana made it to the bridge, and had set the _Pillar of Autumn_'s reactors to detonate at 17 minutes, but then 343 came and deactivated the count-down and was about to deactivate the fusion core. This then forced the two to improvise and remove the coolant rods to open the access shaft to the core. John-117 then used his grenades to cause the reactor to go critical while fighting through the numbers of Flood and Sentinels that tried to stop him and Cortana, along with a last ditch attack by the Covenant. He then took a Warthog and rushed through the ship to be picked up by Foe Hammer as Pelicans could be made space flight worthy, but before they could do anything, the Pelican was destroyed by Banshees and that forced him and Cortana to ride through the ship to reach one Longsword fighter still docked in the Hanger Bay section and with only seconds to spare, they were able to make it while leaping over the massive trench below. He boarded the Longsword and punched its engines to full power, and as the ship exploded behind them, he and Cortana shut down the engines to cool them and watched as the ring was destroyed, she thought that it was over, but John-117 suspected it had only begun.

Later, they were able to gather survivors from the UNSC forces that managed to escape the destruction of Halo and he was stunned to see Sergeant Johnson still alive despite seeing him being among those attacked by the Flood and had come close to killing him until Cortana told the Spartan that Johnson was very much human. There he let the human Sergeant live and they then planned to take over a Covenant flagship to assure their escape. After doing several dangerous but very effective maneuvers to lure away several _Seraph_-class fighters, he and the small force infiltrated the _Ascendant Justice_, fought their way to the bridge and Cortana killed most of the Covenant crew when she was sent into the ship's core systems, using the confusion to their advantage, the group managed to escape and make their way out of the remains of Halo, the group argued on their next move, but he decided for them all to head off to Reach, since according to Cole Protocol, they were not to use a Covenant Ship to go to Earth as the ship would be tracked by the Covenant and they would reveal Earth's location directly, the second was that he wanted to find out what happened to his fellow Spartans.

He and the other UNSC forces then locate several cryo-tubes that apparently were jettisoned from the _Pillar of Autumn_, and found one of his fellow Spartans, Linda-058, while they used the Pelican, he stripped off parts of the drop-ship to reinforce a Spirit Drop-ship they would use to land in Reach, as he and Johnson watched their Pelican Drop-ship pilot Polaski train to pilot the Spirit, they soon arrive to see Reach glassed, and only a small Covenant fleet remaining in the area and a single spot was missed, the Fleet, comprising of at least three squadrons of _Seraphs_, a dozen cruisers, two assault carriers, naturally were confused as to why a flagship was in their location, and it was only when they hear an odd UNSC E-band distress call known as Oly Oly Oxen Free…none of the UNSC forces recognized it, with the exception of Master Chief as he knew that phrase and part of Spartan code, that he and his fellow Spartans had learned in their youth on Reach.

Though there was some debate as to whether they should go down, he and the others did so even when the cruisers surrounded their ship once Cortana determined a good landing zone, John-117 then said the code for the signal of Oly Oly Oxen Free with the order to find a safe spot to look for survivors, and he would be the first, just in case of a trap and to spring it himself, Haverson, the ONI attaché to the _Pillar of Autumn_ followed him for support and they were able to meet up with one of the surviving Spartan IIs, Anton-044 who deactivated his FOF tag to prevent Covenant attack, he led the others to the mines where they met the other surviving Spartans of Reach, Grace-093 and Li-008 who operated defense with a pair of chain guns bolted to boulders, John-117, Grace-093, and Anton-044 entered the base and found Vice Admiral Danforth Whitecomb who was working on the plans on the table for Camp Independence. The Vice Admiral then asked Master Chief exactly what he was doing here instead of leading the covert mission with Captain Keyes.

The Spartan squad leader informed them of the events in Halo and it was there that the rest of the party learned that the Admiral stayed behind to ensure the safety and activation of his new NOVA weapons, his Marine Company of Charlie Team was supposed to do that, but they were all killed and only Spartan Red Team helped him in the mission of arming the NOVA bombs and to give the Covenant headaches with hit and run tactical strikes, but the Spartans were trapped under CASTLE Base and they would soon be found by a Covenant force. The groups then rallied and took the drop-ship to the sight and rescue their comrades, and eliminated the Covenant force in the area trying to clear a cavern cave-in to enter the underground base. There, they met up with Kelly-087, Fred-104, and Will-043, all of them Spartans, Whitecomb asked if there were others, and Fred replied that there was one more, and it was Dr. Catherine Halsey who carried a fist sized crystal that the seemed to be what the Covenant had come to Reach for…suddenly, they detected massive Covenant signals and then found themselves surrounded by literally thousands of Covenant troops, Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and several Hunter Pairs. The UNSC group tensed up and got ready for anything…then the Hunters roared and open fired…and a split second later the Covenant forces attacked.

In space, Cortana had to guide the _Ascendant Justice_, under the Command Vice Admiral Whitecomb into Slipspace and out into a gas cloud to evade the Covenant who had found out about the fact that the Ascendant Justice was no longer on their side, with a dissected Covenant AI to help her and her tapping into the communications systems of the Covenant, Cortana realized that the Covenant had found Earth and that was the ultimate danger she now faced…making her plan out a risky gambit to both free the others on the surface and escape the battle intact.

On the ground, the Covenant were actually shooting at the Hunters, as the lumbering but deadly warriors had disobeyed orders to take the crystal intact, and they risked it's destruction when in their anger they fired at the master Chief and the others around him, namely Dr. Halsey. The Covenant then converged on the group after dealing with the disobedient Hunters and it was when Whitecomb ordered Polaski to evac them, and they managed to escape towards the grav-lift, but the Covenant tried to force them back down while manipulating the grav-lift. Much to the shock of the others, the crystal changed shape and they were then sent upwards and were able to evac, but as soon as they arrived at the pick-up point, Cortana was no longer there.

It was then on the _Ascendant Justice_ that Cortana had used the Engineers on the ship to combine both it and another UNSC Frigate, the _UNSC_ _Gettysburg_, which was badly damaged but relatively intact and usable with the needed repairs as she needed at least two reactors for the deadly and risky maneuver she was about to attempt. And that was to attempt two Slipspace jumps, one into the Covenant Fleet to get to the others in the evac point, and to Slipspace out…however such a move was near to impossible to accomplish with only one reactor, and even the Covenant had not done such a thing, namely in the amount of time Cortana had to work with, thus she used the reactors of both the _Ascendant_ _Justice_ and the _Gettysburg_. As soon as she did so, she was able to evac the others and attempt the second Slipspace jump…however, it turned out that her gambit had dragged the entire Covenant Fleet with them and they were not in 'normal' Slipspace either. The Fleet fired at them, but the unique Slipspace made their plasma weapons miss the ship and fly around in a very erratic pattern, curving, looping, and even more amazingly…teleporting. During the fight however, a band of Elites who had escaped the purging of the _Ascendant Justice_ made their move and caused an explosion to breach the hull…further endangering the ship. The Spartans and Polaski made an effort to deal with both the Elites and fixing the hull breach, however, both Anton, Li, and Polaski were killed by a ship weapon based plasma bolt and Kelly badly wounded. However, Cortana was able to make the needed calculations and managed to escape the abnormal Slipspace they were while leaving the Covenant Fleet trapped.

John-117 was told by Dr. Halsey that despite the injuries Kelly had suffered she would live and it was then that she showed the Master Chief Sergeant Johnson's medical files and pointed out that due to his Boren's Syndrome, which he had gotten in a previous battle with the Covenant with heavy exposure to plasma energy, the Flood were unable to control and mutate him, explaining why he was still alive. She then gave the Master Chief two data crystals, one was the data on the Flood and the potential technology needed to eliminate and contain them, and the other had all that, plus the video from Jenkins' Recorder Chip and Johnson's medical files. She left the decision to him on which crystal to give to UNSC HIGHCOM, it was there that Halsey and Cortana discussed the artifact the Covenant had glassed Reach to find, it was powerful Forerunner artifact that could alter gravity, space, and even time itself, they realized that when Cortana had the combined _Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice_ jump into Slip-space, the crystal had actually sent them through time.

They then arrived at the Eridanus Secendus asteroid belt and there, found the Eridanus Rebels and despite the fact that the rebels were enemies of the UNSC, they were able to force them to repair the ship as best they could. However, it didn't take long for the Covenant to show up as they tracked the radiation emitted by crystal once it was out of Slipspace, despite the damaged and malfunctioning plasma turrets on the ship, the crew of the _G.A.J_ fought off the Covenant, to make up for the damaged magnetic coils on the ship that inhibited the plasma turrets on the _Ascendant Justice_, the Chief told Cortana to use the magnetic coils of the MAC gun on the _Gettysburg_ to shape the plasma. It was then that Dr. Halsey, discovering very important files from her rival Colonel James Ackerson previously along with star-charts took Kelly on a special mission and left the crystal to Private Locklear to protect it, the Marine did just that and destroyed it to make sure the Covenant would never get it intact.

While the remaining crew of the _G.A.J_ were able to gain several shards of the crystal after they were forced to retreat, leaving the rebels to be slaughtered, much to the regret of the Vice Admiral, they had other things in mind as they had to find a way of stopping the coming Covenant invasion of Earth, all they knew was that all ships of the massive Covenant invasion force was meeting on the Covenant battle-station, the _Unyielding Hierophant_. The Master Chief then proposed a daring plan, and that was to infiltrate the station with a modified drop-ship and blow up the reactors, destroying both the station and most of the Fleet, and this was approved by the Vice Admiral, they did so with a special copy of Cortana and were able to infiltrate the station without incident.

But all that changed when they had to pass a temple complex and there they would fight the Brutes for the first time, John-117 grappled with his first Brute and barely made it, while Grace was killed by the Brute Shot, the favored weapon of the Brutes, and John-117 detonated the fusion pack of his fallen friend and that killed many Grunts, Elites as well as a few Brutes. They were able to reach the reactor cores and with the copy of Cortana rigged all 512 them to explode, but when they escaped the station, they found only the _Gettysburg_, and it was there that they learned the Whitecomb and Haverson had taken the _Ascendant Justice_ and used the shards as a trap to lure more of the Fleet to the _Unyielding Hierophant_ and with the detonation of the reactors on the battle station as the _Gettysburg_, which had been outfitted with the Slipspace engines of the _Ascendant Justice_, making it now the fastest ship in the UNSC Navy, with all the survivors, namely the four Spartans and Sergeant A.J Johnson left the scene. The destruction of the battle-station resulted in a massive blow to the assembling Covenant Fleet….wiping out 488 of the over 500 ships preparing to strike at Earth, reducing the numbers that would soon come to attack Earth itself, while severely damaging the same remainder, forcing them to seek out massive repairs.

It was the greatest UNSC raid in history and despite the short lived success, had severely damaged the Covenant War Fleet heading for Earth.

It was at the arrival in _Cairo Station_, main command center for the Earth Defense grid that the Master Chief donned the newly completed Mark VI Mjolnir Armor, personally tested and certified by retired Spartan Maria-062.

The Mark VI had several new features in the systems. Armed with an improved reactive metal liquid crystal layer for improved physical performance and enhancement, allowing him to move faster, jump higher and hit both harder and faster in hand to hand combat, along with increased physical strength. It was also streamlined to remove excess weight and while the armor was less bulky, they were thicker…offering much further protection for the Spartan wearing it. The protection was boosted even further than before with a new and better improved shielding system that was far stronger and more resilient, and could recharge at a much faster rate.

The data transmission relays installed into the Mark VI and connected to the memory-processor super conducting material weave that was also upgraded, allowed Cortana to be transmitted into any system with just a touch, it also had increased pressure limits for the hydrostatic gel layer, further improving the performance and increasing the damage tolerance of the Mark VI in falls and could do so instantly and has a lockdown mode to harden the gel in case of heavy trauma impact to lessen injury to the wearer, the suit also had special off hand data sensors to allow the wielding of two weapons simultaneously. And it had a special built in factory of biofoam and medical supplies…thus the suit could treat minor to moderate wounds, keeping the Spartan in the field for longer periods of time, boosting the combat effectiveness of the Spartan…though critical injuries required greater medical assistance and support.

However, there was only one Mark VI due to, of all things, budget restrictions and the Master Chief got to wear it, after it had been tested by one of their retired Spartan comrades, Maria-062 who lived on Earth. It was there also on Cairo station that the Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson were awarded the Colonial Cross for their heroic deeds, while Miranda Keyes accepted the Colonial Cross for her father. Then the First Battle began as the Covenant Fleet appeared and began to strike at the UNSC Defense Grid with only 15 ships, these, while powerful in their own right, puzzled the UNSC HIGHCOM as to why the Covenant would send a fleet that was small compared to the Fleet that attacked Reach. Hundreds of Covenant boarding craft were launched as the shooting match between the UNSC Earth Defense Force and the Covenant Fleet went at full tilt.

The Master Chief fought alongside the UNSC Marines who were the defenders of the Cairo station and he and his forces were able to hold the fort, killing the Covenant forces for every marine they killed, until the Covenant had left bombs in the Super MAC Platforms of the _Athens_ and _Malta_, destroying both stations and opening a gap in the defense grid, this meant a bomb was in the _Cairo_ as well…namely in the Fire Control Center.

The Master Chief fought his way through the Covenant in the area and out through the airlock and he entered the Fire Control Center and killed the Elites guarding the anti-matter bomb. He then heard that one of the assault carriers the Covenant had was no longer shielded but the UNSC had no ships powerful enough to take on the behemoth…until he asked to give the Covenant back their bomb…which he was allowed to by Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood. He then made it to an airlock and opened it, he then grabbed the bomb and guided it towards the Covenant assault carrier and he was shielded by the AI of a damaged UNSC ship and several _Longsword_-class fighters cleared the way and he was able to reactivate the anti-matter bomb deep in the engine core of the ship and leap out as the ship exploded behind him, he then landed on the hull of the _UNSC In Amber Clad_ and then headed off to the surface to intercept the Covenant forces that landed in the African city of New Mombasa.

There, they realized that the Prophet of Regret was in the Covenant ship and he and the rest of the Marines and ODSTs were ordered to find and capture the Prophet and find out what exactly he was doing here on Earth and in New Mombasa of all places. The Pelican he was in was then shot down by a Scarab Walker, and had to hunker down for extraction. The UNSC then began to counter attack and the Master Chief fought in every corner of the city with the Marines and ODSTs to make sure that the Covenant were not victorious in New and Old Mombasa, from the streets, to the buildings, and the sewers, while Johnson coordinated armor and troop reinforcements. He also made sure to rescue and reinforce trapped UNSC Marine forces in the area, including ODST Marine Sergeant Peter Stacker's forces in Hotel Zanzibar. The Master Chief then was ordered to try and hunt down the Scarab before it did massive damage to the city and UNSC forces…including the 405th Marine Division out of Diego Garcia, they too are rescued by the Spartan with the 105th ODST 'Helljumpers' and hold the city square to break the Covenant offensive and they were able to hunt down the Scarab once it was trapped physically and could not escape, there, he slew the pilots and their leader and destroyed the Scarab.

However, he and the rest of the troops, including Sergeant Major Johnson had to make it back into the _In Amber Clad_, but she had also been joined by this time by _UNSC Dusk_,_ UNSC Coral Sea_, _UNSC Paris_, and_ UNSC Redoubtable_ as the Covenant ship entered Slipspace right in the city of New Mombasa itself, the city was obliterated, but they were not going to give up and let the Prophet of Regret escape now.

There, after only the _In Amber Clad_ and _Dusk_ came out of Slip Space, they discovered another Halo, and realizing that the scenario they each had faced in the past Halo Ring and what dangers it represented, The Master Chief, Johnson and Cortana worked out the ground assault plan to hunt down the Prophet of Regret before he had the Index in his hands to activate Halo and he led the strike with members of the ODSTs and they all hit the beach within Human Entry Vehicles, while being supported by reinforcements and vehicle support. Commander Keyes and Johnson then led the attack to get the Index, while he dealt with the Prophet of Regret. As he fought his way to the temple where the Prophet had his sermon, he then faced off with the Honor Guard Elites and slaughtered many of them in combat and then managed to slay the Prophet despite his hidden arsenal of weapons.

However, he and Cortana had to evac as quickly as they could as the entire Covenant Fleet appeared with the Covenant Capital City of High Clarity. The Covenant then fired a massive plasma beam that obliterated the temple and sent him into the water; there he was found by the leader of the Flood…the Gravemind.

There, he was able to meet the Covenant's version of him, the Arbiter as they both faced the Gravemind, the full scale symbolic leader of the Flood who then told them of the activation of Halo, and there, he tried to convince the Arbiter of the mistake the Prophets were going to make if they activated Halo, along with the words of both the Monitor of Delta Halo and the newly assimilated Prophet of Regret.

Afterwards, he was able to be teleported to High Clarity as the Flood began to attack the city…just as the Elites and Brutes began to fight each other in the Covenant Civil War. He managed to free a good number of UNSC Marine captives, he was to hunt down and kill the Prophet of Truth, but the Prophet escaped in a Forerunner ship and he was forced to abandon Cortana, but not without promising her that he would come back for her.

He then returned to Earth and attempted to take out Truth, but was captured by the Covenant Loyalists and was about to be interrogated, but he was able to resist and fight his way to freedom and killed many of his foes, before the Prophet once more escaped his grasp…forcing him to escape as well into the jungles of East Africa.

There, he was rescued by Johnson and his Marines and was uneasy with the new alliance between the UNSC and the Elites; he was still not trusting of the Arbiter. But they worked well together as they headed to the river for evac, recovering whatever UNSC supplies they could and rescuing as many scattered Marines as they could.

The two former enemies then worked together and freed the Marines from a Covenant Base and then met up with Commander Miranda Keyes and outlined the plan to enter the occupied city of Voi to take out a section of the Prophet's anti air defenses, but they were forced to evacuate the base when the Prophet of Truth broke through the communication system and the base was soon attacked by the Brutes as he and the strong marines held the line as Johnson and the Arbiter defended the Operations center to ensure full evacuation of the wounded. Though the base fell, he made sure that the Brutes and their allies paid dearly for every marine they killed.

Later, he and the Marines rallied to strike at the Brute blockades and broke through them and began to attack the city of Voi which was held by the Brutes and were supported by their fellow Marines, ODSTs and vehicles, they were also able to combine their attack efforts on Mongoose ATVs to attack the Scarab Walker that the Brutes tried to use. The Master Chief and his fellow Marines destroyed the Scarab and watched as the UNSC ships, led by one of their last flagships the _UNSC Forward Unto Dawn_, and fighters appeared to attack the Prophet's ship but the Forerunner structure was activated and it seemed that they were too late…however, it did not activate the Halo Rings, but opened a massive and yet very stable and advanced Slipspace portal, before they could weigh their options to pursue the Prophet, the Flood came in one of their infested Covenant ships and landed in Voi…forcing the UNSC and their forces, including the Master Chief and the Arbiter to fight them all off before the Flood could infest and conquer the Earth. They were able to stem the tide until the arrival of the Elite Fleets that quickly glassed the area to sterilize and kill the Flood, with the forces they managed to assemble, they had to hunt down the Prophet and stop this madness once and for all.

They then arrived at the Ark and found it to be far beyond the Milky Way and there, they saw that the only way to the Control Room of the massive Ark was through a shield that they all, the ODSTs and the Spec Ops had to break through by taking out the shield complex that was heavily guarded by the Brutes and their forces. Once the complex was down, they mounted a last strike on the Control Complex to stop the Prophet from completing his goal with the Sergeant Major in his hands.

It was there that Commander Miranda Keyes was downed by the hands of the Prophet as he attacked her from behind with a Spiker. It was there that the Flood assisted both the Master Chief and the Arbiter one last time, allowing the Elite to gain his revenge by slaying the Prophet. But the Flood then betrayed them and took over the Ark as it had come into the battle-zone with the infested High Clarity. Though they were able to fight their way through the battle-zone with the aid of none other 343 Guilty Spark, they knew that they had to end this threat once and for all, and they learned of a new Halo being built which while incomplete could be primed and ready to fire when they got the Index…but since the installation was the same as the one that Master Chief had destroyed, only the Index from the original was compatible, and the Spartan knew who had it…

Cortana…who he had been forced leave behind in the now infested Covenant City.

Without hesitation, he and the Arbiter launched a two man strike into the City, slaying the Flood Forms that tried to stop them and he moved on until he found Cortana and freed her from the control of the Gravemind and with that complete, he, the Arbiter and the AI construct detonated the reactors of High Charity in conjunction with those ofthe downed_ UNSC In Amber Clad_, destroying High Clarity, hoping to finally kill the Gravemind. However, they later learned that the Gravemind was now infesting the new ring and they had to fight their way to another control complex.

The Spartan and the Arbiter held the line as the Sergeant major walked with Cortana to activate the ring… however; they were betrayed by 343 when it went mad at the mention of the destruction of both the Ark and the new Halo Ring. The Arbiter was unable to help, and despite his regenerative abilities, the UNSC Sergeant Major was mortally wounded by the upgraded Sentinel laser that the Forerunner construct had. The Spartan was able to defeat the deranged construct with the aid of Johnson and with the renegade dead…the Spartan bade farewell to his longtime friend and promised to honor his order to never let Cortana go ever again. With that…both he and Cortana activated Halo.

The trio then rushed on the Warthog as fast as they could back to the Frigate and barely made it to safety and took off in the ship from Halo and the Ark to the Slipspace portal…but the portal closed and only a portion of the ship made it back to Earth…

But it was truly the end of the war as of March 3 2553, the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists declared a victory. A memorial on a barren hill was held for all those who died in the final battle including Miranda Keyes, and A.J Johnson, along with all the ODSTs and Marines who followed them. It was there that the alliance between the Elite and the UNSC did not end but was assured. The Arbiter and Lord Terrance Hood shook hands as despite the Fleet Admiral saying that he would never forgive him and his kind for beginning this war, he was happy that the Arbiter was with him to his last days, stating that the Master Chief had died, and Cortana was deemed lost as well.

The end of the UNSC-Covenant War was celebrated in very Inner Colony world and on Earth…and in time, Humanity began to rebuild…but it's heroes were never to be forgotten.

* * *

June 12, 2610…Earth…

UNSC Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Frederick (S-104) Mendez looked over at the incoming reports that told him of the sighting of more UNSC ships that carried many civilians and refugees from the colony planets that had been glassed by the Covenant and then by the Covenant Loyalists. It was a difficult few years since the end of the UNSC-Covenant War in March 3 2553, 57 years ago and both he and the UNSC were still feeling it. The Inner Colonies were more or less intact and had recovered, especially after Reach was brought back to life with her neighboring colonies, but things were still quite the mess, and the Outer Colonies were only now just being restarted after the decision to slowly move back out… and with the newly arriving refugees who had lived in fear and hiding all these years, things would still be far from over.

He continued to look over the data and walked over to the windows to look at the city of Sydney, Australia, the heart of the UNSC HIGHCOM, he sighed as the newly completed Museum of Humanity was ready for the opening. He was the guest speaker after all and he knew that he was going to have to go there. Despite the fact he still had tons of work to do, he had to do this occasion as well, but instead of getting angry, the current head of the UNSC's elite Spartans accepted it…today was a very important moment in the history of the Human Race, and the UNSC and the museum would be the symbol of it.

The Museum of Humanity was established with the blessings of the United Earth Government, the Inner Colonies, and the survivors of the Outer Colonies and it would commemorate not the victories in battles, the defense of a nation or nations, or conquest of other nations…but the enduring survival of their species. They truly had been pushed to the brink of Extinction and countless billions of their fellow Humans, civilian and soldier alike had died in the defense of their civilization, they had faced the Covenant who had destroyed their colonies and killed their people, and yet had survived, though barely, and then the battles with the vile and horrific Flood.

The Spartan Admiral was happy that his race had survived those bloody and nightmarish 30 years of war, and despite his oath to never forget or forgive the Elites for their part in the War before they separated from the Covenant, he was thankful that they did and helped them push the Covenant back. Though many of the survivors of the Outer Colonies wanted blood for their destroyed worlds, he was not going to have another war spring up between them and their allies all for the sake of revenge.

The Museum had all the needed relics and artifacts to fill it. There were both authentic and operational equipment as well as replicas of the real life UNSC weapons that their Marines, Naval personnel, Army, and the ODSTs used, even their vehicles and armor were also there as well. And the weapons left behind by the Covenant Loyalists were there as well. This Museum also had the life-like statues of every hero who had fought, bled, and died in the 30 years of fighting.

There were statues of heroes such as the heroic Captain Jacob Keyes, the leader of the _UNSC Pillar of Autumn_, who even when being converted by the Flood refused to surrender and give them the location Earth, even if it meant his death, his daughter Commander Miranda Keyes, the toughest female officer in the Fleet who helped prevent the firing of Delta Halo with the aid of the Arbiter and Sergeant Major A J Johnson, a statue of the deceased Admiral Whitecomb, who's sacrifice destroyed not only the _Unyielding Hierophant_, but a vast portion of the Covenant invasion force, there was also a statue of the said Sergeant Major who had fought against great odds alongside his comrades and allowed the firing of Halo to finally kill the Flood well away from killing all sentient life, and finally… his old friend, brother, and leader, Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John (S-117) Mendez, the greatest of his kin and had done many feats that even the most seasoned of the UNSC Marines and ODSTs found to be near to impossible to pull off. There were other statues as well of those who gave their lives in the battle with the Spartan's statue in the forefront.

He himself had only great respect for the Master Chief and all his fellow Spartans, not just because of their records and abilities…but because he knew their lives as they had shared it together for years.

He turned and spotted an old man in a dress white uniform, bent over somewhat, though he defiantly tried to stand tall despite his old age. The man was tremendously old, but at the current life span it wasn't a surprise to the aged Spartan. Fleet Admiral Lord Terrance Hood was always a stubborn man, like themselves.

As he stared at the old admiral, long retired as per regulations, he wondered about the man and the man in question looked at the many statues and…

A part of him still couldn't help but wonder if the Chief was truly dead, due to the Arbiter's words years before. Though he admitted that he didn't want to think that the Master Chief was truly gone, there had been no reports from the still active UNSC Prowlers from that time after the war of any sighting of the section of the Frigate _'Forward Unto Dawn'_ that the Master Chief, Cortana, and the Arbiter had been onboard of when they had fled the destruction of Halo, the Ark, High Clarity and the death of the Flood. As much as he wanted to believe that there was a chance that the Master Chief was still alive along with Cortana, but considering all that was before them and the possibility that they could anywhere in space, especially uncharted space made the idea of the being found alive all the more uncertain.

"Lord Hood, you're car has arrived to pick you up."

The Admiral's new AI assistant, Churchill appeared in the holo-pod to inform his commander that the transportation he requested to take him to the opening of the Museum.

"Thank you Churchill, have all the reports and data arranged for me to look up once the ceremony is over."

"Yes Admiral."

Hearing foot steps and seeing the current leader of the Spartans approach, both men didn't say anything as they both went to vehicle.

* * *

Later…

Lord Hood stood in front of the podium as he looked at the large collections of people before him as the Museum was now soon to open. All over the area were large numbers of people, camera bots, and in front of the crowds were three large columns of veterans of the UNSC armed forces, Marines, ODSTs, Army and Navy personnel, both young and old. They wanted to be the very first to enter the Museum and to recall what they had been in since the beginning to the end of the war.

The UNSC HIGHCOM allowed access to civilian contractors on the combat data and recordings, along with weapon and vehicle designs, along with the city plans of both New Mombasa and Voi to make every detail of the battles as perfect as possible…only the veterans were the ones who knew far more intimate details of the battles.

As soon as everything was ready, he began to look at the all the assembled people and spoke to them all in a voice as strong as he could muster.

"For countless years since the dawn of our race…we have made monuments to commemorate our heroes, and the defense of nations or conquest of others. It has been part of our culture and heritage. Today however, for the first time in our history we are here to bless and open a monument not dedicated to those things…but to the enduring survival of a species…ours."

"Over eighty years ago, we were invaded by the collection of races we knew then and now as the Covenant, and we had been pushed to the brink of extinction, and we were then faced by the arrival of the Flood. We were out gunned and out numbered, our fleets defeated many times, and our ground forces losing many of our fellow soldiers, and yet we fought on, until on March Third of Twenty-Five Fifty-Two we won a major victory along with our Covenant Separatist allies over the Covenant Loyalists and the Flood, and while we still have many years to rebuild our recovering civilization, we now have something that all of us in our hearts wished to have ever since the beginning of this war…peace."

"This museum also commemorates not just our survival…but to commemorate those who gave their lives willingly and honorably to make this peace possible. They who gave their lives with courage and fortitude in those days to the end of the war. For those of you enter these doors, I bid you welcome…to the Museum of Humanity!"

* * *

Light-years away on the Elite Home-world of Sanghelios…

"Arbiter, we have received word that the Humans have completed that…'Museum' of theirs. It had taken them some time but it is done."

A single Elite, dressed in the ornate and functional golden Arbiter Holy Armor faced another Elite who wore the golden armor of the Ship Master of the Covenant Navy. The Arbiter looked at his old fried Rtas' Vadum or Half Jaw as he was known to the UNSC soldiers, as he showed the images of the newly finished museum on the human home world of Earth.

The two Sangheili watched as Fleet Admiral 'Lord' Terrance Hood spoke about the long history and the commemoration of the Museum of Humanity and both listened well to the words of the supreme leader of their former enemies and now allies the UNSC, as he recounted the events that led to the construction of the Museum, commemorating the survival of the Human race, and both Elites nodded as the tours began and several older men…UNSC Marine veterans who survived the battles with them and the Covenant Loyalists.

Rtas then turned to his friend and now supreme leader and spoke.

"They deserve to have that place made, they have earned it well."

"True my friend…"

"To think that over eighty years ago…we all considered them weak and inferior, with those thoughts we waged war with them and while we had nearly defeated them, they had proven to us that they were our equals for all the many battles we have with them. The Humans may be weak and not as advanced, but they are brave, tenacious, gifted with tactical and strategic brilliance, and honorable, all these qualities and their fighting spirit were enough to make them rival us and become our equals. They were truly worthy of the Forerunners' generosity and protection, as were we all…to think that we had been fighting them for no reason and nearly wiping them out… all for the sake of those deceitful and foolish Prophets and walking straight to our own deaths blindly…it shames me to think of it all now."

The Arbiter nodded silently as he knew the truth in the words of his friend. He knew that in the beginning of the war with the UNSC… his people, when they were still on the side of the Prophets, saw humans as weak and inferior and were to be destroyed like the vile affronts to the Gods of their faith the Prophets told them to be without mercy or pity. And they did so with their faith, their former blind, and misguided faith, guiding them as they killed the human soldiers, civilians, their fleets, and glassed their worlds…he himself held most of those attacks. And when they thought that they would be able to win the ground wars, they attacked…expecting quick victories over the UNSC Marines, ODSTs, and Army on the ground.

But the humans proved them all wrong…there on the ground, their victories were more uncertain, as despite the staggering casualties they had inflicted on the humans, the humans fought back with impressive tactical and strategic brilliance, and an unwavering bravery and resolve that slowly and surely began to gain their attention.

In the following 27 years of combat, his people, while still hating the humans as they were their enemies, began to respect and admire them. The humans were indeed physically weak, but they were indeed tenacious as several of his fellow Elite commanders would comment on the fact that even the smallest of the humans would charge at their defenses with unwavering honor, and it made them state that they wished that the Unggoy (The Grunts as they were known in the Human tongue) were as committed and dedicated as the UNSC Marines in combat.

There were even stories from other Elites who said that even when about to die, wounded and dying human Marines would not beg for their lives and would fight still until they died…defiant to the end. Though not all humans were like that…the majority of the UNSC Marines were truly defiant even to the very end, preferring to die fighting than to be captured alive.

Even their lower ranking brethren commented that while the UNSC weapons technology was inferior, limited, and primitive, some of the technology was surprisingly useful and deadly in the hands of the UNSC ground forces, and their battle strategies and tactics were very impressive and effective. And it was even said that some of their kin had wondered on why the Prophets had not given Humans the option of honorable submission and absorption into the Covenant. Ever since the war's beginning, the Prophets had never told them of the crime, at least not in detail when pressed, that Humans had committed to warrant their extinction, and that was before the destruction of Halo, but even then, there were others who questioned the so called crimes of Humans and asked why the Prophets still do not welcome the Humans into the Covenant for they have more than merited their place to be part of the Covenant for having survived this long against them.

They also commented on the Spartans, namely the one who destroyed Halo and how he defeated legions of their comrades and fellow Covenant members in every battle he has been in, though they killed some of these Spartans, and dwindled their numbers, the Elites state that they are like a new class of Human soldier and how the Spartans were like them…being able to inspire discipline, bravery and ferocity in their fellow humans with their fighting prowess and their presence on the battle-field.

And now…after all that has happened, he admitted that things had changed for their race and that of the Humans.

Rtas then looked at the Human Marines who saluted the statues and began to look at what they had seen and experienced in the wars, and civilians were there as well, and the Elite Ship Master saw the emotions that were there on the faces and eyes of the Humans. He then looked at the Arbiter and asked a question that had bothered him for some time.

"Do you think they will one day forgive us Arbiter? For all the lives we have destroyed and the worlds we have reduced to glass, because of our blindness to the lies the Prophets have shown us?"

The Arbiter shook his head at that statement.

"I do not think so…it is not easy for them to forgive, or to forget us for our attacks on them, and we cannot blame them for that, thankfully no such thing has happened yet that would spark a war between us and the Humans…and I would like it to remain that way. They are now our allies and…friends and we may at least do our best to heal those wounds we have caused to their worlds and their kind, but there is an old human saying worth remembering and that is 'time heals all wounds.' Some day they will, but it will not be today."

Rtas then looked at the statues of one being in the UNSC who proved to be one worthy of attention, a former mortal enemy and turned valued ally. He recalled how much he had hoped to end the threat the Spartan had been to the Covenant in the past, before he was told the truth about what the supposed sacred rings were…now that he knew that the Spartan was right in the fact that they had to be destroyed…his anger began to lessen, and knowing that the Spartan had been lost in the destruction of the vile parasitic Flood and their evil leader the Gravemind, his opinion on the Spartan had changed a great deal, and he saw the former enemy as the best symbol of the fighting spirit, tenacity, and resolve of the Humans, along with the UNSC Marines…

It was a great shame that one of his caliber had died, but he died with honor and in the defense of his people…still it was not easy to know that one as great as he was no longer among them in this universe.

"It is hard to believe that…the Spartan is dead, he truly deserves to be among the remembered for all he has accomplished."

"Were it so easy…"

Rtas was a bit surprised at that statement and looked at the Arbiter as they walked towards the terrace and looked at their city to see their world in the process of being rebuilt and their kin who now walked in peace. The Sangheili had lost many in the Wars and though some of his kin were still angry towards the Humans of the UNSC, namely for the NOVA bomb incident, many of them were no longer listening to the lies of the Prophets and there was indeed a movement of their youth who admired the audacity and fighting spirit of the Humans. The Arbiter saw them as the new future for his people and encouraged it. The UNSC and his people had an alliance and he intended to keep it strong in these days of rebuilding for both their cultures and civilizations.

"You do not believe that the Spartan is truly dead Arbiter?"

The Arbiter turned and looked at the statue dedicated to the Spartan. He recalled long ago that he had once carried a hatred for the Spartan, after all, during his days when he still served the Prophets, he had been stripped of his rank and title and the Mark of Shame placed on him due to his failure in stopping the Spartan from destroying it. He became the Arbiter afterwards and first began to doubt the Prophets when he had killed the Heretic Leader, who gave him clues as to what was going to really happen once the Rings were fired, and met the Oracle, 343 Guilty Spark.

He then helped retrieve the Sacred Icon to activate Delta Halo when he and his forces came to it and he yet again felt anger at the Spartan when he learned that the Prophet of Regret had been slain by the Spartan. This led to the removal of his brethren from their position as the Honor Guards of the Prophets, and when he had retrieved the Sacred Icon after killing the Flood that infested the place…he found himself betrayed by both the Prophets and the Brutes, namely by their Chieftain Tartarus, the one who started the war in the first place, and while he was supposed to die, he was rescued and fooled by Gravemind and found himself facing the Spartan himself, he challenged the Gravemind and disagreed when the Spartan told him about Halo's true purpose. It was when the Gravemind told him the whole truth…it was then that he truly saw through the lies of the Prophets.

He allied with both the Gravemind and the Spartan to stop Halo from being fired and while the Spartan went to High Clarity to stop the Brutes, he also made his way to the Control center to prevent the Brute Chieftain from arriving there with his prisoners, Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major Johnson to use them to activate the Ring. He rescued as many of his brethren as he could, sparing them death from the hands of the traitorous Brutes who had murdered their leader with the blessing of the Prophets and met up with Rtas and helped rally his kin, until he and the human Sergeant fought their way to the Control Room to stop it. However, they arrived too late as Tartarus had now the Index, Keyes and 343 with him. He tried to convince the Brute Chieftain that the Prophets had lied to them all and there would be no salvation for them if Halo was activated, only death, but even his words and the data provided by 343 were not enough to convince Tartarus to stop and the Ring was activated. He and his Elites, with the support of the Sergeant Major managed to overpower Tartarus and slay him and his Brutes, though the Chieftain killed many of his kin, with the death of Tartarus, the human female Commander was able to recover the Index and stop the detonation, while his kin held the perimeter. But they had to rally and stop the Prophets and their Brute followers, along with whoever among the Covenant who sided with them from finding the Ark, the one place where all the rings could be fired once they were on standby firing mode. This made him come forward to the UNSC HIGHCOM and tell them that they were now Separatists from the Covenant and told them of what he had learned…and despite the reluctance of his kin, they aligned with the UNSC to prevent their former comrades, the Prophets and their Brute followers from finding the Ark and firing all the Halo Rings…ushering the death of all life in the Universe.

He recalled meeting the Spartan again and how he had been threatened by the green armored warrior with a pistol. After the Sergeant convince the Spartan to let him go, he and the others fought to evacuate from the area, but the Brutes and their allies were there and wasted little time in preventing their escape and Johnson and his Marines were taken hostage. There, he and the Spartan fought together and were able to free the captured Marines and were able to arrive in the hidden outpost. There he heard Marines comment on the arrival of the Spartan and say they were going to be all right, making him see just how much the Spartan meant to his fellow Humans as a symbol of hope and courage…lessening his anger towards the warrior.

The Prophet of Truth then interrupted their communications with Lord Hood and that was a sign of an incoming attack, he and the Sergeant defended the operations center as the wounded were evacuated and they were getting ready to leave, but was separated from the Spartan as the base was destroyed. He then recalled watching and lending support to the Spartan and Marines as they punched through the Brute blockade forces and into the city of Voi, and their defeat of a Scarab in the area where the artifact that the Prophet of Truth had been digging for was found. Their forces attacked the Prophet's ship and tried to destroy him at last…but the Prophet and his Brutes had escaped through a massive Slipspace portal, they then had to face the Flood as one of the Covenant ships the parasites had infested landed in the city. He and the Spartan rallied their forces and fought to reach the reactors of the ship to destroy the Flood and prevent them from spreading all over the Earth…they succeeded despite losses and with the aid of the Elite Fleet, glassed the city to kill all the Flood in the area.

They gathered their forces and took their best fighters and headed after the Prophet and the Brutes to end it once and for all. They then find the Ark, a massive complex outside of the Milky Way and would be beyond the firing range of the Halo Rings once fired. They arrived and then gathered their respective forces, the ODSTs and the Spec Ops, along with 343 itself, who would aid them in the battles ahead, to launch a full scale twin strike on a shield complex that protected the Control Room of the Ark, though losses were high, they were able to make it through and move to the Control Room to rescue Johnson before the Prophet could force him to activate the Ark and fire all the Halo Rings, Miranda Keyes took matter into her own hands as she crashed her Pelican into the Control Room to free Johnson, but she was surrounded and was about to kill both him and herself to stop Truth, but she hesitated and was killed by the Prophet with a Spike Rifle. The two of them were assisted by the Flood and it's Combat Forms and barely succeeded in stopping the Ark from firing all the Rings. He then personally executed the Prophet with his Energy Sword and they watched as Johnson took the body of Miranda Keyes with him to the Pelican drop-ship, but that was when the now Flood Infested High Clarity came and took over the Ark and began to infest the structure…forcing them to fight their way through the area. Once they did so, 343 informed them that a new Halo Ring was being made and while incomplete, it was primed and ready to fire. They knew that if activated, the weapon would truly kill the Flood forever and without risk to the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists and with both the Ark, High Clarity, and Halo destroyed, there would be no means of escape for the Gravemind and its Flood Forms. However, they had to take a great risk and infiltrate the now infested High Clarity to retrieve Cortana who had remained behind a long time ago…for she alone had the one thing needed to activate the new Halo…the Index from the Ring the Spartan had destroyed, as the Index was still compatible with the new Ring.

Both he and the Spartan fought their way into the now corrupted and twisted city and the Spartan, with intense strength of body, mind, and will made it in time to free Cortana and with them once more side by side, he supported them as they made it back to the UNSC Frigate 'Forward Unto Dawn' and headed for the new Ring…but not before activating the detonation of the _In Amber Clad_'s fusion reactors and those of High Clarity…destroying the former Covenant capital and supposedly the Gravemind, making it seem that the plan they had before was not that badly needed…

They however found out that the Gravemind still lived and had managed to gather it's forces and began to infest the new Ring, the three of them fought their way to the Control Room, and they were now ready to activate Halo to wipe out the Flood forever, he and the Spartan watched the entrance while Sergeant Johnson took Cortana to activate Halo, but they were betrayed by 343 as it had gone mad and wanted to preserve 'his ring'. The Forerunner machine mortally wounded Johnson and he was unable to aid the Spartan as he was sealed away from the Control Room, but he watched as the wounded Sergeant fired his Spartan Laser and aided the Chief in slaying the traitorous machine, he watched the two share last words together and watched as the AI and the Spartan fired the ring and rush out as the doors opened.

He felt sympathy for the Spartan as he knew that he and the Sergeant Major were good friends. They then managed to make it in time to the Frigate and he moved to the ship's controls and with Cortana's help, they were able to escape and enter the Slipspace portal to return to Earth…but as they were nearly out, the frigate was cut in half as the portal collapsed in on itself.

He recalled being in the memorial service in Africa for all those who died in the final battle after he had been found as the frigate landed into the sea and he was rescued. On the fragment of the ship was the oath of the UNSC Armed Forces and the pictures, and names of all who died, including Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major A. J Johnson, he was there to hear the speech of Lord Hood and the orders to leave this place barren as a reminder for all those who died. It was there that Lord Hood told him how he remembered how the war started, and what his people did to Humanity, for that, the Admiral could never forgive him, but he was grateful that he was there with the Spartan in his final days, and they shook hands that day, though when he heard the Admiral say that it was hard to admit that he was dead he still had doubts about that.

And he doubted the death of the Spartan even more up to now.

"I do not believe that one such as him would die so easily Ship Master… In the times I had seen him fight and survive, to the times I have seen records of his past battles, and fighting alongside him, I know that what they say about his sense of…luck, luck that defies any odds is very true…he has survived far worse and he will not die so easily. No, despite how long it has been, I do not believe that he truly is dead."

The Arbiter looked out towards space and nodded.

"I believe that he is still out there somewhere…and he will be heard of someday again for if there is one thing about Spartans to remember," turning his head to his friend, "is that they go to hell and regroup for another attack."

Rtas shook his head at that with a laugh, but oh how true it was!

"But in any event, we haven't found a trace of him…even our most seasoned scouting fleets have not found the section of the UNSC Frigate that had broken off when the Slipspace portal collapsed, and even the Humans' own fleets as few as they are…have not found the section themselves. Pardon my words Arbiter, but he must be dead."

"No…I do not know why I still will not believe that he is truly dead old friend, but I do. If there are truly Gods in this Universe Ship Master…I highly doubt that they will let one so skilled as him die so easily…they would have other plans for him. To me…the war between the Covenant, the UNSC, and the Flood may already be over for us, the Humans, and him…but for him, there will be even more battles yet to come…if not here…then somewhere else…far beyond our universe."

The Arbiter then laughed a bit.

"I only hope that those who he will face are prepared to face him. It would have been an honor to see him fight once more."

Rtas laughed a bit at that as well as both Elites looked on to the stars.

Neither noticed a lone human girl with reddish brown hair in a white dress with a gold cross hung from a necklace around her neck and even if they had, they would have dismissed her or would have, had it not been for the eerie light around her and the deep look of knowledge held in her eyes and the power she radiated.

* * *

In the vast realm of space…

Cortana looked in the data records as she looked over the cryo-tube where the Master Chief was currently resting in. And she had already released the distress beacon. But she had no idea when of if they would be found…after all, they were in unknown space and were in half of the Forward Unto Dawn UNSC Frigate, thankfully, the fusion reactors were still providing residual power, enough to keep everything running, including life support for the cryo-tube.

She then looked at Chief as the Spartan lay there in the tube in cryo-sleep. His vitals signs were all good and he was dreaming somewhat. She was tempted to find out what he was thinking about but did not disturb him…after all that had happened between them and how many things have changed as well. Despite this…she was glad that they were still side by side…even if the Spartan was sleeping.

She remembered the time that she had met him, nearly two years ago before the battle on Reach, when she had been asked by her 'mother' Dr. Catherine Halsey to pick the Spartan that she wanted to be paired with. Like all UNSC smart AI, she was modeled after the thought patterns of a person and she was modeled from Dr. Catherine herself.

When she had seen a picture of the Master Chief, she commented as a joke that he was attractive in a primitive animal sort of way. She had done her research on him and noted his records and skills, along with the many awards he had earned over the years, he was a natural leader…but she saw something none of the others, with the exception of Dr. Halsey, did with John-117…luck.

She remembered their battles over the first Halo Ring after escaping the _Pillar of Autumn_, and how she had witnessed the Master Chief in action and how skilled and lucky he was…surviving odds that had even her scared. Plus he saw the humanity in him as well as he did his best to save as many of his fellow soldiers' lives as he could manage and the guilt he felt when they died in combat. She recalled her anger at him at times, namely when he had nearly helped 343 activate Halo, and how they had worked together to find Captain Keyes and to destroy Halo, and how they worked together in both the battle on Cairo Station, then on New Mombasa and then to the Delta Halo…until their alliance to the Flood Gravemind.

She recalled how they had been unable to stop the Prophet and the spreading of the Flood in High Clarity when the parasites had infested the _In Amber Clad_ and crashed on High Clarity. She stayed behind to detonate _In Amber Clad_'s reactors and the promise made to her by the Master Chief that he was coming back to get her, but she was unable to do so as the Flood and the Gravemind stopped her cold.

She then recalled the pain and guilt she had for telling the Gravemind what she knew and then was stunned that he came for her regardless of what would happen to him and how he stated that she should know him well, when he made a promise, he would keep it no matter what.

'_I was right in choosing him…'_

The AI looked at her protector as he slept and then pondered another question that was on her mind for so long now ever since they drifted into space. With the Covenant Loyalists defeated, the Flood obliterated, and the Halo Rings now permanently disabled…the War was now over…both for the Covenant Separatists, The UNSC, and naturally for her and the Chief.

No…I think I should call him by his name…John. John-117, I always wanted to call him by that name.

The question in her mind was…what would they do now?

Even if they were found, which was very much uncertain due to where they were drifting, there was no war left for her and John-117 to fight in. She knew that the Spartans were trained for war all their lives, John as well…so in an age of peace…where would he go? All he had known was a life of combat? What would be his path now that the war was over?

She pondered it over and over, even if there would be eventual rebellions, Humanity would not be willing to start another war anytime soon, and it would be a long time before they would no doubt be found…a lot can happen in that much time.

There was also the fact that as a smart AI, she had a limited life span due to thinking to the point of crashing her systems and would cease functioning, she didn't know why, but the thought of leaving John alone was a very painful feeling that made her wish that she would not…die now. She may joke about her having a relationship with the Spartan…but in truth…she cared more than she cared to admit for him. She had felt and seen his guilt and human nature despite his military life and harsh years growing up. She suspected that her feelings were due to the fact that Dr. Catherine Halsey had deep affections for John-117 which while it was true that she had feelings of affection to all the other Spartans, her feelings for the Spartan leader were at a slightly higher degree, and since she had her thought patterns based from the Doctor, she might have those feelings…but hers were now deeper than before…she didn't want to leave now, but there were so many things that made her death a certainty…but despite her fears…she was happy that at least…he would be there with her when the time did come.

'_He said to me…Wake me, when you need me…For all you have done John…thank you…sleep now, it's my turn to watch over you now.'_

With that thought…Cortana kept her scans of the areas of space.

Unknown to Cortana, things had changed greatly; as while they were in space…they were no longer in the SAME time period they had come from.

The Forerunners were highly advanced and their use of Slipspace technology was vast and great, even more so than the Covenant, before and after they were wiped out when they fired the rings nearly 100,000 years ago. Their empire was vast and powerful before their deaths and though the Covenant was highly advanced, they used only salvaged Forerunner technology and had not yet fully grasped the secrets the Forerunners took to their graves when the Halo Rings were fired.

They knew a lot more about Slipspace than either the UNSC or the Covenant did, and it's myriads of hidden secrets. And she and the Master Chief had just been subjected to that, as when Halo had been fired…the energy that was unleashed had not only made the portal collapse, but had slingshot the section of the Frigate they were on through the very walls of the temporal-dimensional barriers in their universe and Slipspace itself…and had sent them into the future… and yet as they would learn, things were greatly mixed in this future period.

Cortana had no idea of this of course as she may have held vast knowledge of the Forerunner with in her data streams, but she had not accessed it and combined with the damage and additional data she has since gathered from Alpha Halo, Delta Halo, High Charity, and more… possibly could not access it or even remember she had it.

Then one factor's her age and one would not be surprised that as the years drifted by, little by little Cortana slid into Rampancy. Her attempts to recall what she could of both the Forerunner and the Human-Covenant War when the lines began to blur… even she knew, but she tried to recall it none the less in the hopes that it might help her fend off the inevitable… but then she tried to touch and hold the Master Chief while he slept in Cryo… she had fallen into Rampancy… she was at her end.

In the end, Cortana was Rampant, but not completely as unknown to all, one ancient AI had been accidently downloaded into Cortana back on Reach… Offensive Bias.

Mendicant Bias had detected this and had activated Offensive Bias, his younger sister and his Anti-Existence. It was his last act, as the ancient AI stayed on the Ark manipulating all that it could in the hopes of stopping the Flood from escaping while also covering and protecting the few survivors and ensuring that all the knowledge of its makers would go to their inheritors and with time come to be known to them. The Gravemind had realized this and that the AI had chosen to fulfill his mission and the Gravemind had diverted everything it could to try and stop him, but it had been too late and the Installation 04B fired, as was planned by Mendicant… and now… a new story unfolds as a battle begins to wind down as the ruined remains of the _UNSC Forward Unto Dawn_ collides with and unwittingly saves the bridge section of a kilometer long cruiser in its death throes in a situation not even Mendicant Bias had planned on.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Halo Saga**_

_**Episode One**_

_**Chapter One**_

_**Beginning

* * *

**_

_It is the year 4767 of the __Transcend Christ._

_Over 6,000 years have passed since Humanity started to leave the Earth behind to find new planets to colonize and build their futures upon. Many new worlds were found that could support human life, and just as many were found that needed to be changed to fully support that same life. It has been several millenniums of both discovery and achievement and humanity is prosperous._

_During that time, Humanity changed the calendar, although many say it took place in 2510 of the old Amino Domino Calendar. Some claim though, it had to be later as evidence has been found that details that the AD calendar to be in use for at least 300 years there after. That would say very much there are colonies also lost, close to Earth and that humanity has faced many vast trials much earlier or later than had been originally believed._

_Still, it has been 6,000 years since humanity took to the stars in large numbers. It is a concern few worry about with the wealth that humanity now has. Humanity has reaped bountiful rewards from space exploration and discovery. It had become a driving force in and of itself and with the introduction of the Unus Mundus Network, or UMN for short, that allows for both Faster Than Light Travel, FTL for short, travel and real time communications, humanity soon expanded across the galaxy._

_Nearly 5,000 years it should be said, since not only the changing of the calendar and deep space discoveries and the advancement of humanity, but also the loss of Earth herself. Compounding this has been times of unease and even war, stretching as far back as when humankind took its first steps into the stars. There have also been times of great famine and economic hardship to rival those of Earth's past centuries. So much has been lost as to balance what has been gained._

_It has been 20 years since the fateful Miltia Conflict in which a whole solar system had been lost. Yet, that was not the worst of it. The Gnosis that appeared just afterwards is what now holds the galaxy in a grip of fear._

_Though the Gnosis were not unknown, they were also still unknown, save one fact… the desire to destroy humanity and seemingly all life as well._

_With the Gnosis no longer an isolated threat, but a terrible growing one, humanity rushes to prepare defenses and train a military long unlearned in the horrors of a true war. Scrambling to meet this call are volunteers and contractors to fight and build, but it is still not enough as the Galaxy Federation suffers from more than just the Gnosis. It is hoped that these new troops and ships, along with all the new equipment and tactics can turn a sleeping cat into a roaring lion!_

_The U-TIC Organization, or as its long name is, the __Unknown Territory Intervention and Creation Agency__ is but one problem of many and a face to an even greater threat. The group founded by a man of peace and vision, only to turn it into a terrible force of betrayal, or so they say. The U-TIC Organization will stop at nothing to achieve its goals and is better trained, armed, equipped, and seasoned than the forces of the besieged Federation._

_Also, in response, the Federation Parliament founded the Subcommittee On Close Encounters. Its mandate is to help the Federation to develop new weapons and technologies to counter the Gnosis threat unleashed by U-TIC during the Miltian Conflict. Though called a Subcommittee, the SOCE has over 2000 members and access to numerous companies, branch, facilities, and more as it races against the clock to save not only the Federation, but humanity as well._

_It should be noted that Doctor Juli Mizrahi is one of the most preeminent members of the SOCE._

_It is at this time that the 171__st__ Marine Division of the Federation Forces is completely wiped out by the Gnosis, but a chance encounter or perhaps the whimsy of fate, has brought a champion and harden officer to the beleaguered Federation's aid. To these people others will gather, joined by more who are to be the heroes of their time. Humanity has once again regained its sword and shield that shall protect Earth and all her colonies… It is the dawn of the Seventh Millennium of the Space Age and a hero of the Second Millennium has returned.

* * *

_

**Bridge of the Heavy Cruiser **_**Woglinde**_

Captain Iwao Moriyama staggered to his feet as he wondered what had just hit his ship all of a sudden. He held his head with his eyes close, but when he opened them, he saw to his surprise that an invisible field was holding the Gnosis at bay!

He wasn't the only one to notice that or that the bridge was strangely running on secondary power, emergency to be exact. As he called for reports from techs and operators who getting back on their feet or into their seats, they began a series of inquiries and reboots to find out just what had happened. Then came the reports to him and Moriyama shook his head in disbelief when he heard what he was hearing.

"Alright!" he shouted over some of the more panicky voices, raising his voice made him instantly regret it as his head pounded, but he asked a better question than his previous, "What is working at this time and what do we have left?"

That report was shorter and to him it sounded as though…

"WE'VE BEEN TORN FROM THE SHIP!" one of the ship's marines shouted as he pointed to the hull of the _Woglinde_ as it floated by, a few remaining explosions finishing her off.

"H-how…" someone didn't want to finish their sentence, not that the captain blamed them and then they saw the last explosion and their ship was silent.

The crew sat in silence, looking at their ship having been lost, when the communications began to crackle to life with requests for docking from AGWS, life pods, life boats, AMWS, and even calls for help from survivors trapped in space suits or on other ships calling for rescue. It was a complete disaster as any could possibly be and there was nothing the few survivors on the torn off section could do to help anyone else. They were trapped themselves and the Gnosis would home in on those outside whatever protective field that was currently shielding them and kill them all.

"Cut communications," Moriyama ordered in a defeated matter.

With the communications cut, no one had to hear the cries for help even as the last ship in the fleet was defeated, though she gave a good account of herself now that the Gnosis were in the physical realm. It had been a slaughter, pure and simple. Their one hope had been a 100-Series Observational Realian and no one had been able to find her, the Gnosis attack had occurred during her time in the Realian Maintenance Bay and in all likelihood she had been down at a critical moment and before she could get to the bridge, the Gnosis had gotten aboard ship.

Of course the captain and others had been banking on nothing happening, after all, the _Woglinde_ was simply not ready, less than half her proposed length and with bare bones everything, even her weapons, though billed as the response to the Gnosis, had really been nothing more than modified prototype cannons.

He issued an order for the Marines to check the section over, to see how much was attached and if there were any other survivors and above all… any Gnosis.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

In a dark room, long without light, some light appeared very briefly as a woman that was both purple and see through appeared. The color red was mixed into the purple as though the woman was half and half, but briefly her eyes glowed blue and then green, before she vanished, though several dimly lit lights in several sections suddenly began to glow brightly as power was fed to them.

* * *

Exiting out of the UMN a blue and white civilian cruiser appeared near the wreckage of the fleet. The ship's name was _Elsa von Brabant_ and she was a _Lohengrin_-class high velocity transport cruiser. She is a ship of only 150 meters in length and very slender with an enclosed catapult located under the forward section of the ship and a rear hatch to the stern cargo bay. Additional entry into the ship is her port airlock, a couple of loading hatches, and a single dorsal maintenance hatch.

The vessel's lines were both smooth and sharp, as befitting a high speed transport. With her bright blue and white paint she stood out in the crowd. She was both a cargo carrier and a passenger ship and had actually belonged to several criminal groups before she some how found herself in the hands of her current crew, while better they did have a small rap sheet with the Galaxy Police. Now she belonged to a crew of four, technically three, misfits, and one unusual character being number four of the crew.

The vessel had room to comfortably carry a crew of 10 and at least 40 passengers which was slightly down from her original crew of 25 and 100 passengers, though she could be configured to carry over 200 people, including crew, but not in full comfort as it stood. The current set up under the current crew allowed for 15 crew, if required, and 70 passengers. All of them riding comfortably since most of the ship's more criminal components were taken off to make room and despite being a poor handler of money, the current captain knew how to make room from his time in the Galaxy Federation Marines.

The ship also enjoyed a hanger bay which could carry a mix of up to 16 AGWS or AMWS. Currently the ship carried only one AGWS, plus 14 EVA vehicles, three land vehicles, and a medium-class utility hover vehicle. This hanger was located just behind the forward catapult and cargo bay with the stern cargo bay to its rear. Direct access to the forward catapult was possible, but currently was closed off by several bulkheads.

The ship's current cargo load was simply a few crates of rifles with ammunition on their way to legimate users in a security force and some other knick knacks that aren't worth mentioning, though apparently there might be a pair of passengers on board the ship, but that was unknown.

Unofficially, the _Elsa_, as the ship was better known, is well armed and with a first rate sensor system found on most specialized military recon or spy ships. Two forward medium class cannons in pop out positions to supplement the legal six stern mounted light guns in a single battery as will as 20 hidden VLS tubes located dorsal on the ship with eight point defense twin mount CIWS turrets. The vessel could also remove the bulkhead walls which were in reality doors and launch something from the forward cargo bay at combat speed into battle. The magnetic induction plates going from the catapult to the stern bay doors also had a nifty trick to them as well.

The vessel may look like a cargo luxury ship, but she can really fight it out and the _Elsa_ enjoys being equipped with the latest in Logic Drives, fresh out of the prototype phase and the _Elsa_'s smooth lines make her the fastest ship in the entire Galaxy!

Her crew is just as skillful as the ship is equipped.

Captain Marcus Matthews, formerly a GFM AMWS pilot and one of the best they said about him. He was very good and knew it, but he wasn't overly cocky. He was once a Marine Captain so the change over to being the _Elsa_'s skipper wasn't hard, but it surely was one nice three rank promotion! He resigned his commission after the Militian Conflict after a mess in the upper echelons of command resulted in the deaths of both civilians and un-infected Realians by a pencil pushing officer who was killed by Matthews when he took command of his battalion from the man to save lives and get the job done.

Sigmund 'Hammer' Jansen is the ship's navigator, computer tech, and does generally anything that doesn't need either of the others attention or they simply can't do when it comes to computers and file keeping. Hammer as he is better known is a man on the run from accidently hacking a criminal network, though the worst of it is that he got caught and tracked. He and Tony have been friends since they were children though they sometime don't act like it.

Antonio Vasquez or simply Tony is the helmsman and a very damn good one at that. Tony is a crack shot and a womanizer when he isn't piloting the ship through a situation that other pilots would balk at. Tony found himself on the run when he got caught up in Hammer's mistake in a routine hacking, though it also didn't help that Tony had seduced the daughters of the criminal group's boss. Captain Matthews met them both then and offered them jobs as he had just stolen the same ship they now have from the same guys!

Then there is the final member of the crew who handles deployment of the lone AGWS, a simple man named Chaos. He joined the crew about the same time the others did and they've been happy, as it turned out they all served in the military, though Hammer and Tony were discharged after two years, and that made for a very interesting fact for the four of them. Chaos is unusual and his shipmates think he is _far_ older than he appears, but don't ask much for which the kind hearted young man is glad for. Also, when not flying his lone AGWS and the old AMWS stored by a friend, Chaos is the ship's weapon officer and he's very good at turning pursuers into scrap.

Currently the crew was moving their ship through the debris field that had once been a Federation Fleet. Bits and pieces of hull, AGWS, weapons, and more were strewn about the battlefield. Being Gnosis was the cause, it came as no surprise that they encounter almost no bodies. For some reason, even the remains Realians were never found after a Gnosis attack.

"Man," Captain Matthews spoke up after surveying the destruction, "what a mess. Whoever it was, they sure went all out. You think there's anything left out there?"

The scene was truly a mess as Tony guided the Elsa through the debris field, an empty AGWS, torn open drifted by, shudder going down the four crewmembers' backs.

Matthews shook his head, he knew it would be better to scamper off now and forget the whole thing, but he was a determine man when it struck him and plain stubborn when it didn't, "Hey! Tony! How long until the Federation gets here?"

The blonde helmsman would have preferred to agree with his friend on this one, but they needed some Galactic Credits badly, and so he began double checking his readings and displays and confirming what he was seeing was what he needed to see for a correct call, "Well, let's see... The last SOS went out a half-an-hour ago, so, we've probably got at least three hours, right? No signs of any nearby ships, either. Right, Hammer?" his tone more smooth to the captain's hard edged tone.

The resident hacker was already at work, "Yep! We're the only ship within a five thousand light-year radius," he replied in his slight squeaky pitched tone.

Chaos also looked over his instruments, double checking for threats or anything, but he was finding some odd readings and voiced them, "I have some odd readings, but I don't believe them to be much of a worry," he wasn't all that concern and his voice remained at its usual gentle self, but it was the fact that he didn't recognize them that was why he brought them up, "though I can't identify them, very strange."

"But not a threat or danger right Chaos?" Matthews asked for confirmation even as Hammer was already going over the data.

"Confirm captain," Chaos replied.

"Hammer?"

"No threat, but I am recording it anyways."

Lightening up a cigarette, Captain Matthews decided then and there, "All right!" he smashed one hand into the other for emphasis, "That should be enough. Let's grab anything that looks salvageable."

"You know, Captain. I realize the deadline for paying back Master Gaignun is right around the corner, but don't you think this is a little risky? If Feds find us out, we'd be lucky to get ten years," Hammer said from his station as he adjusted his glasses, some people just had poor luck when it came to the corrective eye surgery, though he did like the appearance they gave him, so he wasn't too upset.

"That's if they find out!" Matthews growled at him, not wanting a jinx, "You know the Feds aren't gonna patrol all the way out here in the middle of nowhere!"

Hammer shrugged it off in response, still not liking the idea, though he knew Tony was not too thrilled either, but at the same a little busy, "Well... I just don't like the idea of feeding off the dead. I mean, what are we, space jackals? Vultures? Hyenas?"

He instantly got a kick from behind of his seat by the Captain, "Ya moron! What kinda metaphor is that? Don't be comparing us to extinct animals!" very much afraid about being jinxed now, "You'll jinx us!" and deciding to end the debate right then and there, "We're recyclers, dammit! Environmentally-friendly space recyclers!"

Tony decided to intervene and turned to him, "Master Gaignun told us to stay away from any 'side jobs,' remember? He said it hurts the Foundation's image. I don't know..." in truth he was more afraid of being jumped while working, but then a signal beeped and Tony studied what he was getting.

"What do you have Tony?" Chaos asked inquisitively.

"Oh-hoh! We got a wrecked ship here, three o'clock! Looks like a _Ganymede_-class," his troubles forgotten as that wasn't a small find.

"Nice work there, Tony," Matthews was pleased with Tony's turn around and find, "good thing we were tapping the U.M.N. emergency channel. Come on, pull in close. Hurry!"

"Yep, we're vultures," Hammer muttered with a shake of his head, before Matthews kicked the back of his seat again.

"What was that?" Matthews growled at his navigator having lowered his seat to lean forward and glare at him at eye level.

The _Elsa_ began her approach with smooth handling and yellow-orange thruster flame towards the wreckage of _Woglinde_. The ship's broken form resting in two pieces before them. It was a sorry sight for the once proud, if incomplete ship. Her bridge superstructure floated just beyond sight on her other side, but would soon be in visual range for the _Elsa_.

"Spectrum matches up perfectly. It's a geocrystal," Hammer informed rather happily as that was a major find for them right then and there.

"Alright! Not bad. Let's start with that one!" Matthews was glad now that Hammer was in line for doing his job and with that geocrystal… he might be able to pay off a dozen minor debts and even get some breathing room from Gaignun.

Tony moved the ship closer towards the object. He was expecting a good haul in of creds from the crystal alone, but he was also keeping his mind on flying, keeping an eye out for any debris that would prove fatal. That was why he gasped and bolted from his seat in fright!

"That's not a geocrystal, you idiot! It's a corpse!"

Matthews, Hammer, and Chaos were all surprised as the corpse came into view. It was the first one they were seeing, so it was completely understandable. Though it was also not enough to deter Matthews, whether his crew approved or not.

"Well, what'd you expect? This is a battlefield," he made a dismissive gesture with his right hand towards the body outside; "It's no big deal. Don't bother wasting fuel. Just keep going and let it bounce off."

"You're kidding, right!" Tony was startled by his captain's decision and voiced his objection as a man with some religious and moral fiber in him from beside his station, "my dead grandma told me to be respectful of the dead. Sorry, but I don't want to get any bad karma. You do it, Captain," Tony replied with a challenge to Matthews.

"Ya moron!" Matthews was having enough of his crew trying to jinx this! "What, is that your grandfather out there?" he slammed his foot down, "don't be ridiculous! Just shut up and keep moving."

"Man, not again!" Tony was having enough of some of things that Matthews did, "Captain, this is so typical of you. Making us do all the dirty work!"

The 'corpse' meanwhile floated closer and seemingly gained some sudden velocity that flipped it. The form came to rest outside the window against an arc in _Elsa_'s design. The crew suddenly noticing that it was sitting there, the face looking away from the crew as they took in the blue and white with black trim form for a moment.

"Ya moron! What the hell are you doing? I said bounce it off!" the Captain shouted at his helmsman, forgetting for a moment that the _Elsa_ was not on a course for it to be where it was and that Tony had been standing at the time.

"Well, don't look at me!" Tony countered as he climbed into his seat, "it got stuck on its own. It's not my fault!" Tony retorted with heat and anger as he was thoroughly spooked by the fact that it had somehow gotten stuck just outside the bridge.

"Whatever, just get rid of it," Matthews was more than dismissive, he just wanted it gone, and it was a sign of bad luck he did not need nor want!

Hammer took a closer look at the slender form and soft curves and noticed something telling in both appearance and a couple of other things, "Heeeey, it's a girl!" glad he had made the announcement, it might help with some of the tension, "she might be cute, you know. Heh, heh..." but trailed off at the look of Matthews

"Heh, heh my ass, you sicko!" Matthews shot back sarcastically, "who the hell cares how she looks? She's dead!"

"Exactly," Tony chimed in from his seat, looking up at the female 'body,' "besides, she's facing the other way," he was sadden at such a waste and the fact that he couldn't see her face, "it's a shame we can't meet face to face..." Tony finished preparing to say a small prayer.

Then 'corpse' suddenly looked at them and stood on the window. The crew naturally freaked out at the sight of the albino colored skin and red eyes female with light blue hair looking down on them as though to pass judgment on them, the living.

"_Please open your communications line," _KOS-MOS spoke, using the direct connection she now had after successfully connecting to the ship's communications, _"I need to speak with you on Frequency Two Zero Two Zero," _she concluded.

"A talking corpse!" Hammer freaked, though for some reason, beyond the initial spook, Chaos wasn't doing much freaking out like his shipmates, especially Hammer.

"Ya moron!" Matthews shouted at him, noting Chaos looking calm and thinking that he was thinking the same as him, "open your eyes! This ain't no corpse!"

Tony meanwhile had his hands slapped together as he muttered a prayer and a mantra of "This isn't happening, this isn't happening..."

"It's a Realian. Or a cyborg. Something like that," the Captain stated, thinking it might be something that they hadn't heard about or seen yet, which meant his salvage plans just sank.

"B-but I've never heard of a Realian that can operate out in space!" Hammer stammered out in fear, Matthews admitting that some things were simply too spooky even for him as he was trying to keep a brave face himself.

"Well, it's probably a military robot or something. Just open the channel," Matthews ordered his navigator, more to simply get Hammer to calm down than to actually communicate to the 'thing' outside his bridge.

Hammer opened the communication line as Matthews coughed to clear his throat.

"Ahem. I am Captain Matthews of the tramp freighter _Elsa_," he started quickly putting together a believable story in his head, "we received your SOS signal earlier. It happened to be within range of our navigational path, so we rushed here to your rescue."

"Huh? Rescue?" Hammer questioned, only to get another kick from Matthews, though it was unknown to them, KOS-MOS already had overheard most of their conversation from the moment she landed on the _Elsa_.

"So, is there anything we can do to assist you?" Matthews continued, hoping the woman would buy his story without incident or Hammer's stupidity at the wrong moment.

"What do you mean, rescue? What about our side job?" Hammer complained quietly, though pointlessly as KOS-MOS still understood what he was saying from her connection and by reading his lips and body language.

"Relax, ya moron. We're gonna grab what we can while taking care of this little rescue. With this mess, I bet there's no one left alive, anyway," Matthews began to think that the woman wouldn't particularly care as she was making no moves to have him go looking for anyone throughout Hammer's interruption.

_"I will make this brief,"_ KOS-MOS kneeled down and inadvertently gave the crew a good look up her 'skirt', _"I request that you gate jump to Second Miltia immediately,"_ KOS-MOS stated with a tone of what could have passed for finality.

Matthews scoffed at what he heard, though it did confirm what he thought, "Say what! Oh, yeah, keep dreaming, sweetheart!" he wasn't about to go running off without some work being done, "we can't leave yet, we still got work to do," and the location, she had to be crazy, "and besides, Second Miltia? Have you any idea how much it would cost to travel that far?"

_"There is no need for concern. We will cover all U.M.N. gate fees incurred,"_ the 'we' part caught his attention, but he paid it no more mind as he simply glanced back up at her before looking back towards Tony.

"You expect us to believe that?" he countered, "even if that were true, we've got other business to attend to right now," they were wasting time on the odd chance of a Federation ship showing up, "we don't have that kind of time."

_"My time is limited as well,"_ KOS-MOS stated and continued after a brief run through a list of options and some 'other' details, _"Failure to comply will result in the destruction of this window,"_ KOS-MOS said without any threatening tone to it which was taken again by Matthews only lightly.

"Go ahead, give it a try! The _Elsa_'s forward window can withstand direct hits from debris as big as 6mm!" Matthews took the challenge, believing his girl would beat the upstart, but KOS-MOS raised her fist and Matthews smirked even as KOS-MOS began to bring her fist down, "A punch from a girlie like you wouldn't even dent..."

_**-CRACK!-**_

Her punched caused a large spider's web crack in the window and she spoke once more, _"one more strike, and this window will shatter," _KOS-MOS ran the factors through her head, _"it also appears that none of you are wearing space suits,"_ her statement caused even Matthews to stir somewhat, _"Keep in mind that I am making this proposal with goodwill. I could just as easily toss you out into space and take over the ship."_

Tony and Hammer were frightened as Matthews sighed while Chaos was calm, figuring the captain would be able to talk them out of this problem or, which he felt from the start as more likely, give in to the blue haired woman in order to save his crew, ship, and himself, though it was probably helping that KOS-MOS was raising her arm again.

"Daahhh!" Matthews raised his hands as though to shield himself, even as he waved off KOS-MOS' next strike, "Okay, okay! We'll do it, we'll do it. Don't be so rash," he managed to admonish her in the end at least.

_"Had you accommodated me from the outset, we would have saved one minute, forty-five seconds. I am coming onboard now. Please open the cargo bay,"_ KOS-MOS stated as she began to drift towards one of the side hatches that lead to the Forward Cargo Bay.

"Alright," Matthews said, though once KOS-MOS was no longer in sight, he made several gestures to Tony who nodded and made ready, only for KOS-MOS to contact them again, spooking them somewhat.

_"One more thing,"_ KOS-MOS stated over the radio as she drifted.

"Uh...what?" Matthews asked, actually innocent.

_"Do not accelerate in an attempt to knock me off. If you do so, I will destroy the engine, and the entire ship with it,"_ KOS-MOS stated once again and the crew took the fact she had them figured out with different emotions.

Matthews was simply frustrated and kicked Hammer's chair again and by proxy Hammer.

Tony shook his head as he rolled his eyes.

Hammer was more interested at the moment of nursing his newest head injury of the last ten minutes, give or take.

"She's got us," Chaos said with a hint of amusement.

"Shut up!" the captain didn't want to hear.

* * *

On the separated bridge of the _Woglinde_, Captain Moriyama was informed of KOS-MOS' communications with either an apparent rescue ship or some salvagers hoping to make a quick buck off their shattered fleet.

"I'm not too particularly concern, though if Mister Ridgeley keeps calling for help in all likelihood, KOS-MOS may have just gotten us a ship," Moriyama looked at the list of survivors, 14 wounded personnel along with 11 wounded Realians of which four were non-combat models, 43 healthy bodies including some from other ships plus 23 Realians, as well as 4 two person and 1 four person lifepods and two life boats that held 40 more along with six badly damaged AMWS and eight AGWS being salvageable from a secondary hanger with 11 mechanics, and about another 20 personnel and Realians in space suits scattered among the wrecks, not counting a possible few in trapped air tight sections of ships.

All things considered, there were more survivors than he had hoped to find and from the sounds of it, the Gnosis had also left, but at the same time, he knew a lot of the people that could have been saved he had left to die, but he had no means to rescue them and the rescuers would have likely been jumped by the Gnosis who only left around twenty minutes ago.

Then he factored in the two Vector personnel and the two crewmembers clinging to their lifepod.

"At least we didn't lose everyone," he stated sadly.

"Sir there appears to be a connection between the Vector lifepod and the _Elsa_," Moriyama turned at that, for it was quite quick, but he suspected something in KOS-MOS was actively looking for the signal while she may not have been doing so herself.

* * *

_**Elsa**_** catapult**

As KOS-MOS guided the slightly damaged lifepod into the _Elsa_, she felt some reason, as her mainframe told her what the human emotion was called, 'to kick herself' for sending both Shion Uzuki and Allen Ridgeley to a malfunctioning lifepod. There had been a reason why no one used that one, it wasn't working properly! Still, it would probably end up being for the better none the less as she noted several issues since she started up. These would have to be addressed on the move and in the field and she needed the two for that.

She noted that her maintenance bed had landed safely and as she brought in the pod, she noted the two extra passengers, First Lieutenant Louis Virgil of the _Woglinde_'s complement of Anti-Gnosis Weapons System, or AGWS for short, and Commander Andrew Cherenkov, executive officer or XO of the _Woglinde_. She felt confident that they would provide adequate protection and be more than able to help Allen manage Shion when she let her emotions run wild. That thought caught her D.S.S.S. even as air began to refill the catapult area and noted both men were still signaling the _Woglinde_, as were Shion and Allen, but before she could begin her scans to determine how and why, a hatch grating crashed powerfully to the floor!

The two Federation soldiers looked up in surprise as the pressuring of the catapult area was nearly its end; a cyborg had suddenly launched a surprise attack!

They watched in surprise as KOS-MOS easily stopped the kick towards her and then threw the cyborg against the wall, but this guy was a veteran fighter and flipped to land feet first with an outstretched hand with crushing results on the bulkhead wall, before launching back for a punch that was as easily defeated and he was tossed again.

'_This should be good,'_ thought Lieutenant Virgil, though he noted that his superior was more terrified of KOS-MOS than the cyborg as the man didn't shift much his gaze to the former blonde human, _'I wonder why?'_

Suddenly the top of the lifepod began to broach!

"IT'S TOO EARLY!" shouted the surprised lieutenant even as the commander pulled him back just as the escaping air might puncture his suit and kill him by mistake.

Ziggurat 8, or as he was now being known as Ziggy, felt himself slam into the bulkhead with force that knocked the proverbial air out of his lungs and left him dazed for a moment.

The hatch on the lifepod exploded away as Shion was picked up from her place with in.

Ziggy could see the legs of the woman something or other beginning to charge him as he also saw a flash of white, dark blue, and pink!

'_MOMO!'_ the cyborg thought frantically, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

KOS-MOS was nearly there, prepared to run through both the girl and the cyborg, but…

"STOP IT!" Shion stood with her arms wide and legs set before the converted blade arm of KOS-MOS with the stopped tip only a half inch from her throat even as the catapult bay fully pressurized.

The two soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and Allen looked ready to pass out, though it was debatable about either lack of oxygen or sheer relief that Shion still unharmed.

"Shion, please step out of the way," KOS-MOS asked her creator, but Shion was defiant.

"No KOS-MOS," Shion stated with finality, "You listen, you will cease and decease this action at once," seeing no immediate response for the next several seconds, "as your chief engineer I order it!"

KOS-MOS had a list of orders to override Shion's own, which did not include the current situation, therefore Shion's orders took priority, "Very well," and the android stood down.

Up on the bridge, Captain Matthews and his crew heaved a sigh of relief as they watched the video feed. The loss of either would have been something they would have preferred to avoid, for very good reason. At least they might get some peace…

_-BEEP!-_

"Now what?" the captain asked rhetorically at this newest sign of something.

"A… distress call," Hammer stated in disbelief, "according to the broadcast where getting it's from survivors of the Federation ship _Woglinde_!"

"What!" Tony turned in his seat to look at his childhood friend.

"How many?" asked Chaos, much to the chagrin of his captain, especially given the more current survivors and how things have gone thus far.

"Um…" Hammer couldn't believe it what he was hearing, "over a hundred possibly two hundred."

"That's over the stock limit for the _Elsa_!" Matthews shouted, alarmed, he couldn't abandoned those people; it just wasn't in him, but that many!

"We're gonna have problems," Tony stated plainly, though he knew they wouldn't leave them if there were survivors.

"Doesn't matter!" yelled the captain, "ZIGGY!" he shouted as he slammed the correct button to contact the cyborg who was currently chastising his charge.

"_Yes?"_ despite his impressive record and skills, his tone was both lightly deep and smooth, an interesting combination that if he still fully human would certainly make Tony jealous when it came to the ladies.

"GET THE CATAPULT CLEARED NOW!" shouted the captain, "WE'VE GOT MORE SURVIVORS AND SOME ARE ALREADY QUEING UP!

"_We're clear out now,"_ the line was cut and the bridge could see the rescue under way even as Hammer established contact with the severed bridge of the Federation flagship with Tony steadying the Elsa, and Chaos already on his way to launch in his AGWS.

"We're gonna be bus…" he trailed off at the strange ship wreckage from an unknown that was at the heart of the strange readings they have been picking up, "I don't think we can fit that," he said lamely, much to his crew's embarrassment.

* * *

An hour later saw Chaos and Shion escorting a small, undamaged shuttle, which had been brought over to the _Elsa_ earlier by two surviving Realians from the _GFS Trinity_, to the unknown wreckage. The vessel was pitted and scared and at one point had been separated from its bow section. KOS-MOS was already inside looking about and securing the hanger for the approach of thirty Marines and Realians even as the _Elsa_ stood watch.

As Virgil and Cherenkov had been meeting Matthews on the bridge after Chaos ran into them and the others, he had decided to tag along for the moment as the catapult was currently being put to use, keeping him from launching. As the two groups had been conversing, including Allen's apologies for the errant KOS-MOS and Shion having given the android a piece of her mind about following orders, before the android had managed to give her the slip, a Gnosis showed up and Cherenkov had tried to shot it, only for him to be grasped in its claw.

Chaos had successfully managed to kill the Gnosis with but a single touch of his own hand, saving the _Woglinde_'s XO and protecting everyone else aboard.

KOS-MOS had been immediately told to simply charge up and be ready for another deployment.

Now she was leading the recon into the severed portion of a ship called the FFG-201, _Forward Unto Dawn_.

The first marine felt her feet gain solid lock with the deck. It was a mess inside the hanger; someone had forgotten to close the hatch which was locked securely in the open position. Several wondered if the ship had gone from atmo to exo with the hatch still wide up. Given what appeared to be exterior battle damage, they were willing to vote yes on that.

"Someone had fun," a marine said as he walked forward to join his comrade.

He was right, weapons and vehicles littered the hanger, though likely from whatever had previously happened, but a few vehicles and small arms showed signs of being pulled at where they were securely stowed. There wasn't much, but clearly someone had been climbing on the deck, literally, as there were punched in holes that clearly made hand and foot holds. One man followed them to a terminal and saw some scrapes against the console where someone had taken refuge.

"I'm going to have to say that there was a rush to get away from something," he spoke up, "they didn't remember to close the rear hanger hatch," he indicated said hatch, "during that time, all O-Two at this end was sucked out as emergency bulkheads sealed," several were still sealed, "one person then forced holes into the deck to climb back up and take safety behind this console and survived the whole ordeal," that was interesting.

"So what happened to the person?" one of the Realians spoke up, a male with a neutral and even tone.

The marine walked over to an open airlock and looked at a map, which was down due to lack of power, "in any event, they went deeper, but I am curious as to what he was retrieving from that console as there are scrapes along the edge as though the person, at least a little over two meters high, weighing at least half a ton, clad head to foot in armor, and likely male in his mid twenties."

Everyone blinked at that, as that was rather descriptive.

"Come on," he called out as he lead his group further in, the marine though wasn't feeling good, though he knew why, a Gnosis had slammed him and some other marines and Realians into a bulkhead, he had major injuries and knew he that while he would live with treatment, he was letting some of the others have priority and he now is saddled with this, _'all for 'King and Country' as they used to say.'_

The thirty Federation soldiers soon find KOS-MOS inside the engine room, going over a manual that when one of the Marines takes it after she finishes, finds it to be a maintenance manual for a 'Slip Space Drive' and looks over the rather large piece of equipment of said manual.

"Damn," one woman put it mildly.

"That is, what they say, putting it mildly," another Realian speaks his point.

"New plan," the woman turns to her platoon members, "grab everything not bolted down and," she indicates the Slip Space Drive, "Some that ARE bolted down and let's find our body and get out!"

"Body?" KOS-MOS inquires with a quirked eyebrow.

"We believe there might be a crewmember left on board from the hanger we entered," a female Realian stated plainly as she was closest to KOS-MOS for the blue haired android to read her lips through her helmet, if need be.

"I detected a reduced life sign in a cryogenics bay one deck up and several rooms towards the severed section of this vessel," KOS-MOS drew looks that were saying, 'and now you tells us?'

"How far is several rooms?" one marine asked with annoyance filling his voice as he heard Shion's dismal sigh over the shared link.

"Approximately Seventy-Nine point Eight-Three meters left hand side," the albino android responded as groans filled the communications… to get to engineering they had just past that!

"Vector knows how to make'em," someone ground out, male as far as any could tell.

Back outside, Shion simply shook her head, the action being translated into her AGWS. She just couldn't understand how KOS-MOS could operate as she was and not noting such important things as life si-gns…

"LIFE SIGNS!" she shouted into her mic, much to the marines and Realians, as well as everyone listening on the _Elsa_ ("That girl has some powerful lungs," Matthews winced as he rubbed his ears, "No kidding," was Tony's response as Allen sighed.), dismay, "KOS-MOS!"

"_Yes Shion?"_ oh how she wanted to suddenly strangle her creation!

"If there are life signs KOS-MOS don't you think that they would take priority for medical assistance!"

"_The follow team could have-"_

"BUT THEY DIDN'T KNOW!"

"_I will be sure to recall this situation for future reference,"_ KOS-MOS was ever logical.

"I'm sure I did _not_ program her that way!"

* * *

On the bridge of the _Elsa_, Lieutenant Virgil was enjoying himself with the way Shion was being made to step in time with KOS-MOS. He knew what the android was up to, after all, she was program for combat, he was trained for it, Shion was _not_. No surprise she would be a step behind, if not a heck of a lot more than that!

* * *

A number of the marines and Realians had worked their way back to the cryogenic room and sure enough there was some power in this area. After opening the hatch and entering, sweeping it for any and all dangers, they spotted a lone cryo pod in use. It was on the far wall, about center and in the openness of the room, it was easy to spot.

They approached with weapons ready, half expecting the pod to explode open or for Gnosis to file in, phasing through the walls, floors, ceilings, everywhere to kill them. They were nearly at the pod, when a light flashed and a hologram of a nearly nude woman came to life, her color a mixture of purple and red, but then her eyes flashed green, before turning blue, her color becoming a mix of blue and black. She seemed to be struggling, but she sent her message…

_"H-help,"_ she said almost too feebly before her color changed back to red and purple and she seemed to thrash about, she had been able to use hand language to tell them how to pull her chip free.

One of the marines, a field tech, quickly hit several buttons, and the hologram disappeared and several lights indicated that she was now in a storage device which ejected itself, he took it without hesitation and reported that he wasn't hanging around and getting back to the shuttle ASAP.

Then they looked over at the now lit cryo pod with its sole occupant. The group at first thought it an android or something, but realized that it was a heavily armored man in green and black armor. He was covered in it from head to foot with a polarized orange face plate that hid his or her face. It was heavily battled scarred and it was likely the wearer was wounded as well. Still, despite everything, they were stunned by a seemingly projected form of power, like the armored person before them was the greatest warrior ever born, something that made them, even the logical AI like Realians, feel extraordinary humble.

Then the first clamps snapped open, releasing the pod as an automated system kicked in. This brought the Federation soldiers back to reality and they went to work to figure out how to get the pod out. One man though noticed the weapon rack next to the pod and the weapons stored on it. Without thinking much, he collected them and secured them in a bag attached to his EVA pack.

As the group, designated Team 2, was retrieving the slumbering green warrior, Team 3 was ransacking armories for weapons and equipment as well as armor and anything else they could carry. Except for Team 2, all the other teams were made up of 4 soldiers, but KOS-MOS was operating alone, though she was helping Team 1 recover anything and everything that they could to understand the ship's Slip Space Drive. Team 4 was going over the quarters; having found and emptied the ship's surviving computers on this part of the ship.

"_Hey, we got maps!"_ one man reported.

That was a good thing; they could prove useful to the Federation in locating this ship's point of origin.

"_Found the ship's crew roster as well,"_ one female Realian reported, "_Many KIAs and severe trauma WIAs appear as well."_

Everyone shivered at that and even KOS-MOS took a moment to understand the gravity of the report. The ship had to be seeing heavy action for that to happen. It was spooky feeling, like they were robbing a tomb or something to those men and women.

"_Team Three here,"_ reported the leader of that team, _"we've finished taking all we could, we even nabbed a couple of vehicles for study, but also from a lot of drones," _there was a sigh over the line, _"also there are fighters, transports, and other heavies we can't take, but there was plenty we could and did take."_

"_Team Four again,"_ the leader of that team started talking, _"we found this section's Sick Bay and are beginning our sweep,"_ the man didn't need to report anymore than that.

"_Team Two,"_ the Team leader spoke up, "_we've finally got that big POS free and moving,"_ for something so powerful, it wasn't _too_ big thankfully, _"comes in several parts and seems to be designed for removing, likely for repairs and such."_

Time seemed to be slow and truthfully, Matthews and his crew had been a bit busy with their auto drones. They managed to snag a lot of useful items, including a couple of geocrystals when no one was looking. They weren't about to leave empty handed and besides, the spare parts for AMWS and AGWS might just come in handy.

Then that's when the trouble began as the clock was winding down on them.

"_Grab what ya can and move it!"_ Matthews ordered over the radio, _"we just got a positive ID on a ship we don't want finding us."_

"What ship could that be?" a female marine asked as she and others followed the helpfully posted directions for safely disengaging the lone cryo pod.

"_A confirmed U-TIC ship of all things,"_ Matthews stated and added, _"And the reason is that the _Elsa_ sort of had a small entanglement with them earlier and at the behest of certain groups who would like to remain nameless until you get back on board!"_

"_We may be a bit slow," _came another voice, it was one of the other Realians and one on Team 4.

"_WHAT!" _Matthews stumbled over the word, _"WHY!"_

"_We found another survivor in the medical bay," _the Realian paused,_ "A wounded survivor with terrible back wounds in another cryo pod."_

Time seemed to slow down, but Matthews being himself, _"Hurry it up and remember the military motto of 'Be Careful, but Move Your Butt!'"_

"I thought U-TIC was no more," one man stated as he grunted as they got the sleeping armored warrior's pod free from its last restraints as the corpsman with them read over the manual as fast as possible to make sure all was well.

"_Less talking, more working!"_ Matthews admonished before going silent, observing communication protocols.

Team 2 began a back track, hauling the cryo pod while KOS-MOS assisted with moving the wounded person in the other cryo pod. They worked quietly; thankful they had everything they needed to grab and some they didn't. The team continued towards the rear of the ship and their shuttle, when they more felt than actually heard in the vacuum of space, the report of Shion and Chaos' weapons.

"_Company,"_ reported Chaos calmly, _"mostly Auto-Techs."_

"_What else?"_ Matthews requested, almost silently.

"_AGWS."_

"_Light them up."_

"_Copy that."_

Explosions were being felt and if one was close, heard as the shockwave passed through helmets and suits. The teams were converging, having grabbed all they could in the last hour. They knew if a U-TIC ship was poking around, the Federation Fleet wouldn't be showing up for some time.

Team 2 was almost there, when dazzling lights began to show up around them…

"SHORT JUMPS!" KOS-MOS already on the move before the shout and began to actively engaging as the team members moved towards the shuttle as she provided cover fire, being careful about her aim.

The Auto-Techs seemed to dance as they were hit and some even exploded. The Auto-Techs attempted to return fire as soon as they appeared, but too many had already been destroyed and the remaining soldiers were also firing into them. It had been a desperate and ultimately futile move to outflank Shion and Chaos.

"_I have a lock!"_ Hammer shouted, surprising everyone.

"_Good,"_ Matthews responded, _"Tony!"_

"_Extra scrap for the yard!"_

The Elsa's bow came about as several dorsal hatches popped open and released a carefully guided flock of missiles at the U-TIC scouting ship, even as bow doors popped open and two cannon stuck themselves out and fired as well. The U-TIC ship appeared to be a lot like the _Lohengrin_-class like the _Elsa_, but it was a Hyams Heavy Industries ship, not a Starlight Incorporated ship and as such would usually be able to over take a _Lohengrin_.

The U-TIC scout ship was quickly overwhelmed with all 250-meters of the ship cracking open as the missiles hammered the ship. The beams were precisely aimed and destroyed communications arrays and sensors. Another volley of missiles and cannon shots were sent at the U-TIC ship, but the vessel managed to get off some red beams towards the source of the missiles and blue beams, but they were wild and hit nothing, stabbing into empty space.

* * *

**On the Bridge of the **_**Elsa**_

"Scan shows no Federation personnel," Hammer reported as the ship began to give.

"Tony," Matthews said solemnly and the pilot nodded and another stabbing of blue light got the U-TIC ship in the reactor room and in her storage bay for her black boxes.

The vessel could not survive the forces of detonation from her own reactor and the ship vanished in a ball of light, equal to that of a miniature star.

"No survivors from the U-TIC ship," Hammer said softly, fighting pirates were one thing, but U-TIC was more than a simple terrorist group.

"New model no less," Matthews said to himself, as the last scouts were shorter and looked exactly like _Lohengrin_-class ships, "Hammer note in the log for Little Master that the vessel was a new class and mark it down as Hostile," ransacking his mind for a name, "U-TIC Hostile Vessel _Dark Scout_-class, at least until we get the real name and update the ship's computers and targeting systems as well and make sure Chaos and Miss Vector get this info as well preparing something for the Feddie pilots."

"Aye captain," Hammer responded and went to work.

"You surely don't pull punches," Moriyama said as he approached Hammer and Matthews.

"Well," Matthews knew there was little point, "the fellas we work for are actually charged with tearing U-TIC a new one every time when they rear their ugly heads."

"I see," Moriyama rubbed his chin, "that explains your heavy weapons and no doubt how you slip by inspections."

"Nope," Matthews spoke up with a bit of pride, "that's all us," Tony and Hammer shook their heads, "besides," the _Elsa_'s master continued as he looked at the Federation officer made several hand gestures as he spoke to help make his point, "the inspections are worthless and a joke if U-TIC can move about, we're not even half as well armed as some of their ships."

Iwao Moriyama, a Federation Fleet captain and former master of the now destroyed _GFS Woglinde_ had to agree. He was thankful that someone friendly to the Federation found them first. He dare not think of what would have been.

"Hammer," Matthews looked down at his navigator, "let me know when all are back on board," he looked out, not wanting to tempt fate, "we're leaving."

"Plotting course for Second Miltia now," Hammer reported as Tony chimed in that weapons were locked away and secure.

The captain lowered himself and indicated for the surviving officers of the _Woglinde_ to follow him and also indicated for Ziggy to also follow them from his spot off to the side and in a corner of the rather spacious bridge.

* * *

Shion stepped down from her silver and red AGWS. She stretched; floating around in the Vector Industries VX-2000 AGWS was not all that comfortable. She was ready for a hot shower, hot food, and a hot bed, but she knew that that was impossible under the current circumstances and she felt a hand tap her shoulder.

She turned to find Chaos indicating for her to come with him, even as the robots and mechanics went to work servicing the two operational mechs. Shion nodded, though she noticed Chaos' white and dark purple Mitsuhara Armaments Corporation's AG-04 AGWS getting a tune up and a service overhaul. She had to ask how he got his hands on the AG-04 as they were still quite rare and it had been no small miracle that the _Woglinde_ even had four with two others on separate ships in the fleet.

She noted KOS-MOS was preparing her maintenance bed, making her curious as to how the android had gotten free of the massive restraint system she had been encased in previously. She shouldn't be surprised, the android was plenty strong to deal with very large Gnosis, so that had to be rather easy. That made her shake her head at the waste of time it had taken to make the restraints in the first place.

She felt the ship shift beneath her feet as it changed its course and bearing with Tony's voice filling in over the speakers on the ship wide Public Address system, "All crew and passengers, please brace yourselves as we are now making our first jump towards the Miltia Star System, in two minutes and thirty seconds from... NOW!"

Everyone felt the _Elsa_ begin her run up as they prepared for the jump themselves. As the two walked by the many wounded soldiers and Realians, it was noted by Shion that the Realians were being set up based on gender, rather odd, though it soon became apparent to her, that the wounded had taken all the ship's beds. With no where else to go, they were going to be put with the soldiers and so the decision was made to set them up based on gender, with several female Realians being bunked with KOS-MOS.

"Guess I'll be sleeping with KOS-MOS then," Shion said with a resigned sigh as though there was a shower down there, there were only seats good for taking a cat nap on and it would be rather cramped as it stood.

"We'll set something up," Chaos noted that the wounded had essentially taken over the ship, the only beds left were that of the crew and MOMO's own, "I'll talk to the captain about beds for you and your friend."

"Thank you Chaos," Shion was grateful and it showed, "but I don't want to take from any who might be needed closer to the bridge."

"That's why I said I would talk," Chaos gave a playful smile, "we're all former military on this ship, believe it or not," Shion was surprised at that, "so you don't need to worry too much about things, the captain is already talking to the surviving officers and we're also going there to discuss just that as well as many other things."

Shion nodded as they ran into Allen who had become the closest thing to a Realian maintenance officer that they had. Apparently none of the Realian Maintenance Personnel had survive the _Woglinde_'s loss and no other had survived from the fleet except a couple of wet behind the ears rookies who not only new to Realian maintenance, but were greener than grass when it came to the military as well.

"Talk about a disaster chief," Allen said as he journeyed with the pair up to the ship's restaurant.

"Yeah," Shion said forlornly, thinking about everyone who was lost and then something came to mind, "Allen?" she questioned as she stopped with both Allen and Chaos stopping to turn and look at her, "are you sure the others made it out?"

"They and some soldiers who were in the area," Allen replied with a smile and a relieved look, "Togashi and some officer named Brubaker got them all out on the training shuttles with KOS-MOS confirming a jump from them."

"I'm glad to hear and I'm certain the captain would be very pleased to hear some more of his crew escaped death," Shion felt reassured.

"Which one?" joked Chaos with a serene smile, causing the two to blink, "Captain Matthews or Commodore Moriyama?" he slipped in Moriyama's temporary rank while aboard the _Elsa_.

It took the two Vector employees a moment to realize Chaos' joke, but they couldn't help, but smile at the good humor, it had helped to clear the air for the two civilians.

* * *

**Vector Industries Ship **_**Dämmerung**_

**Office of President Michael Tiber Wilhelm**

In the dimly lit room, a red hooded man was addressing his master about current events, as well as some surprising events that have appeared along the way.

"Master Wilhelm," Red Testament said after a short bow, "I have a report from KOS-MOS," the white haired man looked up at his top deputy, "Shion Uzuki and Allen Ridgeley have both joined up with KOS-MOS aboard a vessel named the _Elsa_."

"I see," The master, Michael Tiber Wilhelm calmly replied, as though it was unexpected and as far as Red Testament knew about his master, he wouldn't doubt it.

"This is fortunate, especially since there's an unidentified ship closing in on the battlefield," Red Testament reported while trying to come up with a suitable explanation about the U-TIC scout and the unknown ship.

"And if the ship were to threaten the girl, KOS-MOS would protect her… Is that not right?" Wilhelm was not unaware of the fact that his deputy did in fact love the young woman.

"Yes," the reply was a bit slow in coming, _'expected,'_ "That would be the prime directive," the hooded man replied.

"Either way, it was a wise decision to pull back KOS-MOS," Wilhelm thought on the matter, "there's no need for us to continue serving them, or the Federation, any longer," Wilhelm had been thinking this over for some time, "besides, the data for the Rhine Maiden is now complete. All phenomena are moving forward as specified by this Compass of Order," he said gesturing at a neon green colored globe-like compass that was now pointing in some direction, though now that the leader of Vector Industries was looking at, he thought it was slightly off.

Wilhelm got up, "As for the rest… Gather the necessary factors and wait for the other one to awaken…"

The hooded servant didn't bow, having noticed his master's lingering gaze, "sir," _'how to approach this?'_ "I believe there is a complication."

"What complication?" the most powerful man in the galaxy asked, a bit surprised.

_"This is will not end well."_

* * *

**_Elsa_**

Later that night, Shion finished putting her touches on what was her new room for the time being. She had decided to let the bridge crew to have any spare beds that were available and chose to sleep in the unused office that was part of the room that KOS-MOS and a number of the surviving female Realians were being berthed. The office was a simple affair, with a desk, filing cabinets, bookshelf, and a terminal, a view of space through a small window as well as a small table, stand, five chairs, and a small shower cubicle and a separate 'head,' an old nautical term carried to space that meant the toilet. Three of the chairs had been removed along with the table, bookshelf, and all, but two of the filing cabinets.

She couldn't help but be amused at the thought that there were still filing cabinets in use thousands of years after they had been made pointless. Still, information on paper or some other physical item tended to last centuries if well cared for, if not longer. Digital information on the other hand was far more fragile and needed constant upkeep in comparison.

Shion looked at the small bed she had, one of the _Elsa_'s spares, her things had been few and were still on the _Woglinde_, including all her spare clothes. Fortunately someone had been able to salvage some spare clothes from another ship and that strange wreck. The uniforms of the Federation had been resized to fit her and they were only somewhat different from her Vector uniform and thankfully the uniforms had been modified to give a mimicking appearance to her uniform right down to the color identification and markings systems to note her as a Chief Engineer and Project Head of Vector Industries First Research and Development Division.

Still, she would have preferred having her things retrieved, that area had been part of the bridge section, but during the transfer over, they had been given low priority. As such she would have to make due with Federation clothing until a retrieval group salvaged her things or she made it back to Vector or her apartment on Second Miltia.

She looked around the room. One of the filing cabinets now acted as a dresser to hold her new clothes and had a coffee maker on top for her to have either a morning cup or late night one. The bed was close to the shower and head, but safely out of sight if she accidently left the door open to her new quarters. The desk currently had a small stack of documents and some data pads concerning the Realian Females, who were now her responsibility, and KOS-MOS. Shion was thankful that one of the surviving Realian technicians was female and was bunking in a similar room with the other Female Realians that survived. Some time in the future, Shion decided to give MOMO a check up, being a Realian and all that, she would need an inspection after all this.

Shion also found herself being charged with looking over the AI that had been recovered. According to reports it was badly degraded, but still operational. The AI was considered salvageable given its coherent contact with Team 2 and the decision reached at the meeting was to have Shion work on it.

Shion sighed as she thought about the AI. It had to be really old, but was surprisingly in operational condition. That meant it had to be well made and floating for only so long. She was curious about it and was rather annoyed by the description of a nearly naked woman with lines of code covering sensitive areas.

'_I'm gonna have to address that soon,'_ Shion thought to herself as she shrugged and released a yawn.

Shion had to admit, that now since they were in hyperspace, she was exhausted. The events of the last few hours had been both horrifying and insane, including the fact she had been part of a fight that had ended human lives.

She felt an involuntary shudder go up her spine in remembrance of Chaos shooting down all the manned enemy units. The U-TIC soldiers hadn't stood a chance against the veteran pilot. Chaos seemed unusually accepting of the thought of having taken life. She guessed it was because he was a combat veteran and such things simply didn't faze him as deeply as they would her who had the added fact of only having learned her family's martial arts, not having been schooled in war by the military.

Still, she managed to shake it from her mind; she was tired and more than a little annoyed. Her sleeping clothes were still on the _Woglinde_ and no one had any serious replacements for them. The best she could do was some underwear, but she had to wonder how good that would be.

'_Well, beggers can't be choosers,'_ she thought and decided to simply go to bed after a hot, but short shower.

* * *

Over in Allen's new quarters, with the male Realians, he yawned as he put the last of his things away. He was luckier than Shion, since he always kept some work related items with him, even in his home. He always figured he would need sooner than later and he was right about half the time, give or take. As he was about to change for bed himself, he noted a box he had missed.

He sighed, it was nearly his shower time and he was certain Shion would be remembering the same… he hoped anyways.

Picking up the box and opening it, the first thing that greeted him, much to his surprise and embarrassment, was a number of female items and undergarments, a couple he was certain was Miyuki's doing.

"Right," he remembered as he closed the box with a cherry red face, "the emergency stash for the chief."

He had put the box together years earlier. After all, Shion liked to overwork herself and sometimes fall asleep at her station. After a couple of embarrassing encounters when she work up and had to attend meetings in her slept in uniform, Allen had put the box together and kept it on hand and close by. He had figured Shion would either forget about the box or lose it, so better that he better hold onto it for her for such times.

"Though I think Miyuki went a little too far the last time we repacked this," Allen grumbled.

"Repacked what?" Commander Cherenkov asked as he walked up behind the startled Allen.

"Please sir," Allen regained his composure, "we've had enough excitement for one day and I'll like to keep it the rest of it from being remotely close."

"Well you were pretty lost in your thoughts," Commodore Moriyama laughed to lighten the mood with Lieutenant Virgil simply shaking his head.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" Allen asked as he eyed the time, not much left until it was his turn.

"KOS-MOS," Cherenkov said plainly.

"Unknown," Allen shook his head, "I don't get it, we disabled that function when we restarted," Allen sighed, "only the chief, myself, or someone with the knowledge and clearance could have restarted it, officially."

"Unofficially?" Virgil asked.

"Only myself and the chief," Allen replied, shook his head in thought and added, "and only together no less."

"So how did she come online?" Moriyama asked, "let alone drive the ship's systems crazy?"

"No clue," Allen was truthful, "she's also acting differently from how she was programmed, at least what we believe to have programmed her, but without our equipment we can only guess and in all likelihood there may be some preprogrammed orders that even we didn't know about."

"How's that even possible?" Virgil asked, clearly confused and getting irritated by Allen's own lack of knowledge, "you design, built, and programmed her didn't you?"

"Truth is," Allen felt it was pointless at this time anymore, "two years ago, it wasn't an accident, but an attempt to steal KOS-MOS by the U-TIC Organization."

THAT answered much of their questions.

"Are you saying the U-TIC Organization attacked you to steal the prototype and someone covered it up?" Moriyama asked, rather surprised than angry.

"Yes and no," Allen replied and continued before someone could demand an answer, "it was the Archetype, not the Prototype, and there was some kind of problem that led to a massacre of both Vector and U-TIC personnel as well as the destruction of a nearby city when the Archetype used one of its more powerful weapons."

The three men were silent at hearing that.

"Shion was able to use a specially made pistol to catch the Archetype off guard and thus destroy the head with a single shot, ending the threat, but…" Allen trailed off, looking haunted before continuing, "she's lost a lot of people, including her parents back on Miltia, an uninfected Realian nanny she adored, and has become rather separated from her brother, I think she said he's a swordsman who loves books, though his name is Jin."

"Dark, long hair, sometimes in a pony tail or sometimes not, about eleven years older and standing about six feet thin, but martially built and weighing about a hundred and eighty pounds, give or take," Virgil asked with a curious tone.

"Sounds right, why?" Allen asked, confused.

"There was a Captain Jin Uzuki in the Federation Marine Intelligence or Special Forces service back during the Miltian Conflict."

"Are you sure?" Moriyama asked, though suddenly Cherenkov remembered why the name Uzuki was familiar.

"Yep," the AGWS leader nodded with a serious look on his face, "if I recall correctly, the Uzukis were employed by a company connected to Mizrahi Labs as well," he shrugged, "I looked into after the war, though its needless to say the info may have been a bit scrambled."

"Why did you investigate?" Cherenkov asked, needing to possibly send this along to Margulis.

"Since it's not often corpsmen need to patch up a guy with both sword and burn wounds on those sword wounds, I got curious about the guy," Virgil simply shrugged, "but it was the manner in how he had been found," Virgil shook his head, "he was born on Miltia, so it had been a bad idea for him to be dropped in, especially in the heart of the city he grew up in."

Silence… the ever deafening sound of when one knows what one means, but the words are better left unsaid.

"I know that…" Allen trailed off and the others didn't press him.

"I believe that's enough for tonight, Commodore, Lieutenant," Cherenkov saw his superior and the AGWS pilot nod and the three left after bidding Allen a goodnight.

Allen was now wracked with indecision, but as he saw the box with items for Shion, he decided to wait and make sure. He didn't want to cause any trouble and he knew how much that Shion actually hurt. He didn't want to add to that unless he was certain she wouldn't be overly troubled by it.

"The things I do," he muttered as he put the box to the side and made a note about the extra items that Miyuki clearly put in there, "I may strangle that woman one of these days," a light chuckle followed his words as he shook his head and stepped into the shower, just in time for one.

* * *

As everyone began to wind down from the rather hectic day, no one noticed that during the move, one of the cryo pods had accidently been set to be begin a delayed thawing of its occupant. The two cryo pods were in separate areas, one was just down the hall from Shion and KOS-MOS and the other up in next to the ship's small medical bay. The one thawing its occupant happened to be the former. Though when the time came, it would be quite fortuitous that the accident had occurred, but then again, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 was famous for his luck.

Though one person looked on surprised and amazed to see the green clad Spartan as he slept. The one on looker noticed the thawing, but did nothing to interfere with it as it was falling a safety procedure, though admittedly slower than the norm, but not dangerous to the Spartan. Shaking their head with a bit of smile, the person ran their hand over the lid above the Spartan's sleeping form.

"It has been sometime now hasn't it?" the person said with a bit of smile tugging at their lips.

The Spartan merely slept on, not knowing of the person.

"I believe it was an op back on Terra Two," the figure chuckled as they ran moved their hand to a position to cup the Chief's left cheek, "I thought you were hansom, but while you suspected, you likely thought I was connected to the Spartan Ones, right?"

The Master Chief didn't respond as he slept.

"I wasn't and how I wanted to tell you then and there just who I was," the figure smiled down as the figure's face was now mere centimeters from the faceplate of the Chief, "who I am," as lips met the screen with a kiss that lasted a few seconds before the woman pulled away, "maybe I can tell you later," she smirked, "but for now I must hide myself."

The figure in green didn't know what was happening, _'or does he?'_ the woman thought with a fond smile, Spartans would at times border on be telepathic as well as psychic.

"I hope you remember my name Master Chief Petty Officer John One-One-Seven," the woman spoke with a tone one would think of a military officer, before it trailed off into a purr of a woman seeking her love for life, "and I'm so happy to hear my own voice give words to the name I have not heard spoken in years," she smiled, a woman happy to have someone to connect too, "we'll still have to help Commander Keyes, we're it Chief, we're all she has and she all we have John," she looked him over from head to toe and back again…

The hatch opened as a guard stepped into the room, sweeping it carefully. He spotted no one, but he had a feeling someone had been in the room just seconds ago. He moved carefully, his partner following as others covered from the hatch way. Both men swept across the room and shrugged, maybe they hadn't heard anything, but then something shifted noticeably and they swung around to the noise.

"Who's here?" the guard demanded even as Chaos then stepped in.

The now team of three both swept the room again as they were covered from the doorway. They checked every nook and cranny, but saw nothing out of place. The guard shrugged and went back to his post, while Chaos remind inside. The young man's blue eyes sweeping, he knew someone was in there, but whom? It had to be from the survivors. Chaos, though, did notice the signs of someone turning to the sleeping man for strength and help, but kept his peace on the subject.

The guards shrugged and one turned to Chaos who shook his head. Only the vents, too small for a person, and the hatchway were in the only ways in and out of this particular room. Captain Matthews didn't want too much done to areas close to the hull, outside of reinforcements for some armor and needed structure reinforcing for whatever reason. Beyond that little had been done, so that left them in a bit of a quandary.

"I know I _heard_ something," the second guard stated and the ones at the door nodded, they had heard it too.

"Gnosis?" some asked noticeably nervous.

"We're still breathing," another stated.

"We're just jumpy," a female guard spoke up, "let's give it a rest before we begin to see things that aren't there next."

The other guards accepted the thought as fact and left the room, leaving only Chaos and if it were a Gnosis, Chaos would deal with.

"Now that you mention," the first guard spoke, "the android is driving the ship mad," the others chuckled and were soon out of sight and sound.

"Someone has been crying and longing for you friend," Chaos looked at the imprint of the lips and the few tears that still resided on the top.

"I wonder who Spartan?" Chaos asked with a smile, "yes I know who you are and I know that with your luck and courage, our path has already been changed and for that I thank you," smiling with a nod, Chaos left, "sleep well, I'm arrange for a nice meal when you awaken and," here Chaos chuckled lightly, "some exercise."

Chaos chuckled once more to himself, knowing the Spartan would snap awake once they were attacked again. That was typical of the Spartans after all. They were warriors born to be found and then raised to be the very best and the very best they were. Now it was time for such groups as Vector, Ormus, and more to learn that before such strength, their own was not but weakness for the Chief to exploit.

'_The changes are already occurring, I can sense them even now,' _Chaos thought as he left, having made sure the person would be alone for sometime if they ever returned, though for the life of him, he couldn't figure out how they got in and out without even him noticing and in an area he knew he would be spotted for sure.

* * *

**Somewhere else, far removed, but on the same path as the _Elsa_…**

"Keep up the fire, protect the civilians!" gunfire rattled and Gnosis fell, they would not be overwhelmed, they would hold until they either escaped or relieved, "hold the line! Hold the line!"

* * *

Okay, the first chapter is done. Now I know I've been getting requests for DOW, but I'm having some trouble with that one at the moment. I sort of went overboard with something and I'm looking into getting it back on track. The next chapter is started, but I need to iron a bug or three out first.

As for Halo Saga, this is a revamp of my previous Halo/Xenosaga crossover. It will be taking certain stage for the time being as well. I really just want to get to a story and stay with it. The others, even by my definitions were hap hazard affairs that I really need to re-correct in the future.

Also, I've gotten some flak from a fella named Ring of Halo… no way for me to reply to what you said, so I hope if you don't mind if I just… let's see, what's the right term?… ah!... ignore you. Next time leave a contact address and I might consider what you say as important. You essentially may have said something, but I've learned not to bother with those who don't have the decency to at least leave some way for me to contact them to discuss their point of view. So until you do, I won't count your reviews. Thank you and have a nice day.

* * *

Ahem!

Please note that I would like to have some means to contact those who leave a review. It is helpful for I like to contact reviewers, especially those who express what they think should or should not be done or had been done. This sort of feedback is something I would like to discuss at length to get a better understanding from others of where I'm heading with my stories. Thank you for those who have reviewed, even Ring of Halo (to a point admittedly), and I do hope for more reviews to see where I'm heading with this and my other stories.

As for things, such as survivors, Shion's set up, and more… well… why should I tell you now and not surprise you later?


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